Watch Over Me
by ChristianGateFan
Summary: After Dracula, after Buffy asks Giles to be her Watcher again, she hears that he'd been planning to leave and worries that he doesn't know how much he means to them all. Then Giles is taken by demons with a horrible agenda, and the nightmare begins.
1. Chapter 1

IMPORTANT NOTE: This story assume there were actually several weeks between the last two scenes of _Buffy vs. Dracula_--the scene where Buffy asks Giles to be her Wacther again, and when she comes home to find Dawn there, which is when we see Dawn for the first time. I love Dawn, but she didn't fit into my plot, so she's not here. Thus the insertion of several weeks there. I promise it will actually fit there once I'm done, if you pretend Buffy happened to wearing the same outfit on those two days several weeks apart...which actually isn't that out there at all, so bear with me please! Other than that slight fudge, this story will remain completely canon, I promise. Also, this is my first Buffy fanfic, so please do review to let me know how I'm doing, and please be nice--but still honest! Thanks so much, and I hope you enjoy the story. :)

-Kat

Watch Over Me

Buffy Summers was in a good mood as she made her way home, even beside the residual wiggins she'd gotten from the encounter she and the Scoobies had recently had with Dracula. Coming from Giles's place, she expected to find her own house empty and quiet. She _didn't_ expect to find her living room occupied by Willow and Xander.

She closed the front door behind her and moved into the house, raising her eyebrows at her mysteriously present friends. "Hey guys. What's with the pow-wow?"

Willow stood quickly. "Buffy! Hey, uh...How are you?"

Buffy blinked. "How am _I_? I'm fine. _You_ look a little off though." She frowned in confusion. "You both do. What's up?" Her friends exchanged uneasy glances, and she couldn't help worrying that something was wrong.

"Well, it's just..." Willow trailed off and started again. "Look, try not to get angry at _us_ or anything, but, well...we know why Giles asked you to go see him today. He uh, he told me a few days ago before the whole Dracula thing, and he asked me not to say a word, and, well, I didn't—except now. I just told Xander. But now you know, so that shouldn't be a problem. I just wanted to be sure we were both here when you got back from...hearing, you know, in case you were, well, angry...I mean, we don't like it either, but we figured you'd be the most upset, so..."

Buffy held up her hands to stop the onslaught. "Willow, _what_ in the hell are you talking about?"

"About Giles going back to England. Leaving," Xander answered. "Or trying to leave. I still have half a mind to kick his ass, but, you know...guy's not our age, but he'd still kick mine first."

"That much is true, but since when is Giles going _anywhere_?"

Willow's eyes went wide. "H-he didn't say anything to you when you were over there just now? He told me that today he'd—oh god." She twisted away quickly, a hand scrubbing through her hair. "Oh god I screwed up. Or he did. Or—" She spun back. "He seriously didn't say anything?"

"I think I would have remembered that! If he'd tried to get something like _that_ past me _I _would have kicked his ass!"

"This doesn't make any sense," Willow grumbled.

"Well maybe he changed his mind," Xander said quickly, hopefully.

"But from what he told me, he's been planning this all summer."

Buffy's mind was swimming. She'd just come from seeing Giles, and everything had been fine. They'd talked; they'd smiled. There had even been a laugh or two. And after the conversation they'd just had, why would he turn around and leave? She'd asked him to be her Watcher again.

"Wait, he...Will, is that why you've been acting weird?" she asked finally.

Willow shrugged. "Well, yeah. I wanted him to know we still needed him here. So he'd change his mind. Though I don't think I did very good job of making it subtle."

Xander smirked. "Now that I think about it, no you really didn't."

"Well what was I supposed to do? We can't let him just _leave_. He's _Giles_."

"Hey, I'm on your side, remember?"

Buffy took a deep breath and let it out a moment later as a slow realization dawned. "Guys, shut up for a second." They stopped abruptly and looked at her questioningly. "I think I know what's going on here. I think...that what Giles and I talked about just now changed his mind. That's why he didn't say anything to me. You're right; I went over there because he said he had something to tell me. We just never got around to it. That must have been it."

Willow's eyebrows went up. "Well what did you two talk about?"

The last couple of hours took on a whole new perspective all of a sudden, and Buffy had to cross to the couch and sit before she said anything.

"Buffy?" Willow asked.

"You okay?" Xander added.

"Yeah, it's just...I mean, I didn't think much of it at the time. I knew what I had to say to Giles was important, but I didn't think—oh god, he was going to _leave_?"

Willow sat on the coffee table facing her. "And last I heard, he still was. What happened over there today?"

Buffy crossed her arms tightly. "I...I told him about how this whole thing with Dracula had me freaked—because of how much more he seemed to know about my power than I do, and everything. I told him I wanted to find out more about where the Slayers _come_ from, what this power _is_. I told him...that I couldn't do it without him. I knew I wanted Giles to know that." She swallowed. "I didn't that would really _do_ something; I didn't know he'd been thinking of leaving before I said anything."

Xander had come around the coffee table to sit next to her, and he huffed. "Huh. Looks like you changed the G-man's mind. Sweet. All who are happy with this development, raise an enthusiastic hand." He did so, but the girls just stared at him.

It wasn't that they didn't agree; it was just ridiculous.

"Right," he sighed, letting his arm drop. "Dumb question."

"He said he was leaving because you didn't need him anymore," Willow said quietly.

Buffy's mouth opened to protest, but her own words rang in her ears. _You haven't been my Watcher for a while. I haven't been training, and I haven't really needed to come to you for help._

They weren't lies. It was just how things had played out. She really hadn't sought much from Giles in the past year, and she'd been fine that way. And apparently he'd noticed.

She swallowed. "Well maybe he hasn't officially been my Wacther in a while, and in the Watcher sense I've needed him a lot less more recently, but...I never would have wanted him to _leave_. How can he not know that? God..." Even staring toward the far wall at nothing, she caught out of the corner of her eye her friends exchanging glances again. She felt an arm around her shoulders and knew it was Xander's.

"Hey, the important thing is that Giles isn't going anywhere, and he knows you need him_ now_. That's all good, yes?"

Buffy shrugged. "Yeah..." But it still hurt, knowing that Giles must have thought she would be all right with him leaving—knowing that he'd thought she didn't need him at all. She stood and quickly paced back into the entryway, and she heard her friends getting up to follow.

"Buffy?" Willow asked.

She turned to face them, a hand on the bottom of the stairs' railing. "Thanks for being here. It means a lot to know how much you guys still watch out for me. And thank you...for telling me what was going on, Will. But I uh...Riley and I; we had plans tonight. I need to call him and let him know when to pick me up."

"You all right, Buff?" Xander asked.

"Yeah, of course. I mean, like you said—Giles isn't going anywhere, and besides leftover freak-out from Dracula everybody's fine. I'm good."

"Right..." The two of them said it together, and it was just like old times.

Buffy smiled and saw them out, waving as they left. When they were far enough away for courtesy she shut the door and retreated upstairs to her room.

She did what she'd said she was going to do, and called Riley, but when she hung up she stared at the phone for several long moments before picking it up again and dailing a different number.

"_Hello_?"

For some reason, she felt extremely relieved to hear the decidely British-accented answer on the other end of the line. "Giles. Hey."

"_Buffy_? _What is it_?"

"Oh nothing, really. Nothing new anyway. I just wanted to remind you to figure up that new training schedule ASAP. Haven't done it in a while, after all. I could probably use some brushing up."

"_Well now, you weren't wrong before. I'm sure that_—"

"Giles."

There was a pause. "_Right. Of course. I can have a few ideas for you by tomorrow if you'd like, __and we can compare with your class schedule for this coming semester_."

Buffy could hear the happiness in his voice—she could even tell he was trying to cover it up—and she couldn't help grinning to herself. "Sounds good to me. I'll come by your place again tomorrow."

"_Very well then_. _I'll be here_."

She said goodbye and hung up, and lay back on her bed to stare at the ceiling.

So Giles had felt underappreciated? Well...not anymore.

Buffy planned to see to that herself.

* * *

The night was well on it's way to leading into the next morning, but the fact that it was past midnight couldn't have bothered Rupert Giles less. Every light in his flat was on, there was a fresh pot of tea in the kitchen, and he sat contentedly at his desk making notes on a fresh yellow legal pad.

He had a job again—of a fashion—and even though it didn't pay it felt better than anything had in a long while. It was what he'd wanted for months, and what he'd thought he would never have again. Just that morning he had been bound for England, proud of his Slayer and heartbroken at the same time, and now he think of nothing but training schedules and techniques he hadn't used yet—things he had been only planning in Buffy's senior year of high school when the Wacther's Council fired him for caring too personally for her. Things he had never been able to teach her when she stopped coming to him for training.

In the last few months Giles had wondered if staying anyway had been pointless after all, and now he was glad he had. Now he had another chance to help her—another chance to do it when she wanted the guidance. He knew she was scared, not knowing where her powers originated from and such, and that maybe that was the only reason she'd asked him to be her Wacther again...but it didn't matter, he told himself.

All right...it did. But it was enough for now—enough to make him happier than he'd been in months.

However, the happiness was trumped by alarm when his door and two of his living room windows burst inward and several demons of various shapes and sizes jumped or stormed inside.

"Oh dear lord!" Giles shot to his feet, nearly overturning the half full cup of tea on the desk as he lunged for his weapons trunk. The horned orange demon that had come through the now-broken front door caught an arm from behind, spinning him around and landing a vicious punch across his jaw. The only good thing about that was he landed right on top of the trunk he'd been going for. Face throbbing, Rupert slid off of it, pulled it open and managed to take hold of a small battle axe before the orange demon could come at him again or his friends could make it to their human target from where they'd landed just inside the windows.

He swung, taking off half a horn before one side of the blade buried itself deep in the demon's neck. Giles was no Slayer—the axe didn't go all the way through, especially considering the tough hide—but it was more than enough to kill the beast. The thing dropped like a stone, and he had to kick out to push back two more smaller demons before he could lever the axe out of the dead demon's flesh. Then he was up and ready again, and had just enough time to get off a quick count of the enemies present. There were five more, all smaller than the orange brute who had come in the front, but they were fast, and still stronger than any human.

But what were they doing here? What did they want with him? Though more likely than not, it had everything to do with Buffy...but what?

Giles stayed as close to the wall as he could, to keep from allowing any of them behind him, but at the same time remained careful not to let himself get backed into a corner. Several more swings of the axe later and two more of the demons—these blue and green, respectively—were dead, but the battle was far from over and he had to assume he was fighting for his very life. As it was he had several cuts and bruises already.

"Who are you! What on earth do you _want_!" he growled, not really expecting an answer but finding no harm in trying anyway. He ducked a blow and swung again, slicing into an arm but not enough to cut it off or seriously incapacitate it's owner. "Who are you working for!" Demons rarely joined forces unless there was someone at their head, after all—someone with enough power to make them follow.

The wounded demon fell back and allowed it's two compatriots to take over the attacks, snarling at the human who had wounded it. It didn't exactly answer any of the questions posed to it, but it did speak. "The Slayer will be ours," it hissed.

"I rather think not," Giles answered hotly.

The green demon only gave something akin to a smirk, and rejoined it's fellows in the fight despite it's injury.

Well...this certainly wasn't how he had planned on spending his first day as Buffy's Watcher again. Or, officially, it was second day now, wasn't it? Either way, right now it seemed he needed to be concerned with surviving it.

Minutes later Giles was breathing heavily, resisting the urge to lean against the wall behind him and show any sign of weaknes, any opening for the demons. The remaining three were facing him, sizing him up, and then they all came in at once. A well-aimed swing caught one in the chest, effectively killing it, but in trying to keep his grip on the axe handle as the body fell away Giles stumbled, giving one of the others the microsecond of a chance needed to shove him away from the wall that had been protecting his back.

He caught himself and spun to lash out with a fist, but the one he'd injured was right behind him, ready to push him back again with a kick to the gut. Giles went down quickly, and he felt sharp pain from an impact to the back of his head as he fell. When he hit the floor he didn't didn't get back up, and the world began to go dark.

_Sodding...coffee table..._

He saw the last two demons moving in before the nothingness took him, and just had time to think of Buffy and others, and how ironic it was that everything for him should end just as life was starting to look up again.

* * *

The tables at Sunnydale's local coffee shop proved themselves once again to be annoyingly too small late the next morning, as the Scooby gang took up nearly three of them in their gathering. They were all there—Willow and Tara, Xander and Anya, and Buffy and their newest member in her boyfriend Riley.

"Okay, so...what's with the meeting?" Willow asked finally.

"And w-where's Mr. Giles?" Tara asked.

"Giles is at home," Buffy answered. "He is not here because this meeting has been called on the subject of Giles himself. Thus the reason the meeting is not at his place as usual." She scowled at herself. "Thus?"

Xander smirked. "And it was only yesterday you decided to start spending even _more_ time with Giles."

Riley looked back and forth between Buffy, Willow, and Xander—the core group that had been the beginning of the Scoobies more than four years ago during their sophmore year of high school. "Okay, I'm lost. What about Giles?"

Anya crossed her arms and shrugged. "Well we all know Buffy's pretty much ignored the poor guy recently. I assume this has something to do with fixing that."

Buffy resisted the urge to glare a hole in Anya's forehead. After all, she was right, and being sometimes painfully blunt was just who she was. The ex-vengence demon didn't really mean any harm. "Uhm...yeah. That's one way of putting it," she admitted slowly.

"It's not just Giles, and it's not just Buffy," Xander said quietly. "Last year was screwed up in a lot of ways, and we're just now really starting to fix how messed up things got. We've got a long way to go, too, but it wouldn't be right at all without Giles." He glanced at Buffy, and Buffy looked at Willow.

Willow straightened a little and continued, telling the three that didn't know about Giles's plan to return to England, and Buffy finished with explaining again what had happened the day before.

"So he's not leaving, not now, and I think he's happier already, but that doesn't mean that there's not more to be made right here. And...maybe a lot of it is stuff _I _need to do, things I need to make sure he knows, but...the rest of you can still help, too. You can make sure he knows that we _all_ care about him."

"That we need him," Willow echoed. "Because we do."

"Right on, Will," Xander nodded. He looked at Buffy. "I'm with you, Buff. No way we're giving the G-man any more excuses to even _think_ about leaving."

Tara curled one of her own arms around one of Willow's and held on, smiling a little. "I'll do whatever I can. I like Giles."

"Of course," Riley agreed. "He's a good guy; I wouldn't want to see him gone. Count me in."

Buffy let out a breath and smiled at her friends, leaning against her boyfriend's shoulder. "Thank you. All of you. I uh...I know I've screwed things up in the past, but I think this oversight is one of the dumber ones." What would she have done she hadn't unwittingly corrected it? Or begun to correct it, anyway. They would have lost Giles, and it would have been her fault, and there was no other way to look at it.

She thought for a moment, and finally straightened and let loose with an idea. "Hey, I was gonna head over to Giles's place later about a new training schedule, but maybe you guys should come with."

Willow brightened immediately. "Oh! Ooooh! Party! We should have a party!"

Xander's eyebrows went up. "Willow, my friend, have you _completely_ flipped your lid?"

"Well Giles _isn't_ leaving. What better way to show him how happy we really are about that than to celebrate it?"

"Celebrate him not doing something we were never even supposed to know he was considering?"

"Well it was a dumb thing to consider in the first place, and besides, I only told you after I thought he'd already told Buffy; how many times do I have to insist I wasn't doing anything wrong there?" Willow answered.

"I'm all for Giles not leaving, but I highly doubt he would appreciate the six of us bursting into his place in the middle of a weekday with party makings and starting a boistrous celebration he was never warned about," Anya commented.

Buffy grinned suddenly. "But that's exactly what we're going to do, and he'll just have to deal with it. You're a genius, Will; I love it." It wasn't what she'd been planing—not that she'd really had any specific plan at all yet—but it was perfect. She slid off her stool. "I say we split up errands and meet at Giles's in an hour."

Xander stood with her, apparently on board now. "All in favor say 'Aye!'" he called.

Unlike the afternoon before with Buffy and Willow, this time they all willingly answered with raised hands and the requested enthusiastic response.


	2. Chapter 2

Well to the two of you that reviewed, thank you so much! Please continue to do so. It would make my day and make motivation to go on much easier, lol. :) Hugs! Anyway, here's chapter two. I look forward to reviews from any of you out there. Thanks again for reading! And have a Happy New Year. :)

Chapter 2

The Scoobies met again outside Giles's apartment complex as they'd planned, a little more than an hour later. Xander and Anya were a bit late with their allotment of the supplies, and from the looks of them Buffy didn't want to know what had slowed them down. She merely gave them a look, rolled her eyes and allowed Xander to look sheepish as the six of them went through the gate together to approach her Watcher's door.

Buffy was glancing at Riley as he said something, and so didn't see whatever it was that crashed to the ground a moment later.

"Buffy! Look!"

It was Willow's voice, and Buffy twisted to take in her friend's horrified face and the soda bottles that were now spilling around everyone's feet. She heard Tara gasp, and Riley curse quietly. Then she saw what they were looking at.

"That can't be good," Xander swallowed.

Giles's door was broken and hanging inward, and though she couldn't see much yet she could already sense the aftermath of carnage. "Oh no..." She swallowed back any further reaction and turned quickly to the others. "The rest of you stay here. I'll check this out."

"Buffy—" Riley took a step forward, and she knew what request he was making. After a moment she nodded, and set her bags on the ground to head for the door. Riley dropped what he'd been carrying too, and followed. Thanks to the Initiative's drugs, he was stronger than the average human—not as strong as she was, but he could give her a decent fight on a good day.

Buffy approached the open doorway cautiously, her chest clenching tightly and threatening to take what breath she had left. She had to resist the urge to gasp openly; god, if anything had happened to Giles...

She shut the thought away and moved inside, grimacing at the stench that hit her. At least one of the reasons for it was obvious immediately in the dead orange hulk on the floor. But she was definitely smelling more than that, and moving around the couch to the rest of the living room she saw three more dead demons, all smaller but large enough to have been threatening in life. One by the wall still had the blade of a battle axe buried in its chest.

Riley didn't say anything. He moved silently upstairs to check for anything or anyone, and while he was up there she moved into the hallway to check the bathroom and kitchen. There was nothing there out of the ordinary, and as she came back into the main room her boyfriend was coming back down the stairs.

"Anything?"

He shook his head. "Nothing."

Buffy let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding, and sank onto one of the stools at the bar that seperated the kitchen and main area. Her insides suddenly felt like Jell-o. "Then he's not here," she breathed. "He's not...here."

It was bad, but it was better than finding Giles dead.

Riley moved to her side, and rested a hand on her shoulder and squeezed. "You okay?"

Her jaw set. "Not really." She looked up to see him staring down at her with those concerned eyes, and quickly stood. "I'll be fine. We have a problem to deal with. Go get the others; I'll start taking a closer look at all this."

He nodded and went to do as she'd asked, and at the moment she couldn't have been more grateful for his soldiers' efficiency. Right now what she needed was to keep her head, and his relative willingness to dispense with the freak-outs and get down to business was a big help. She knew he cared, and that was good.

Now to find out just what the hell had happened here.

Xander was the first to speak as Riley brought the other four in. "Oh holy hell."

Willow's horrified face was still on, but she was beginning to get it under control and it was obvious that having Tara at her side was helping in that respect. The other witch gripped Willow's hand tightly, whispering calming things into her ear.

None of them asked about Giles, so Buffy assumed Riley had mentioned that they hadn't found him here. "Giles is missing," she said then, just to make certain everyone knew the specific problem at hand. She motioned to the dead demons scattered on the floor. "It looks like he was attacked, and whatever was left of them hauled him off."

"Meaning, I would assume, that our job now is to find him," Riley filled in.

"And kill whatever took him," Buffy agreed.

Tara and Willow were at the back of the couch now, looking over it at the bodies. Tara seemed to to be a little dumbstruck.

"M-Mr. Giles did all this?"

Buffy managed a resigned smile. "I don't guess you've seen a lot of that side of him. He can fight, and he's good at it. He had to be, or he couldn't have taught me a lot of what I know." She couldn't say _all_, but the painful memory of her short-lived first Watcher from back in L.A. had been long ago locked away for good. What mattered was now. Giles mattered now.

"If whoever planned this just wanted him dead, they'd have killed him and he'd still be here," Buffy continued, making herself believe what she was saying. "That means he's still alive somewhere."

"Buffy..." Xander had crossed to the other side of the living room as she spoke, to examine the battlefield and the dead demons, but now he was crouched by the coffee table. "I think you should come look at this."

She went to him, and knelt beside him to look at the corner of the wooden surface.

There was human blood there. Not enough to be seriously alarming, but it made her stomach churn just the same. "He's hurt," she said quietly.

Xander nodded slowly. "Considering the mess in here I'd have said that was probably a given already, but yeah...he's hurt."

Buffy swallowed and stood, crossing her arms as she faced the others again. Willow had gone pale, and the others had their grim—but, thankfully, determined—faces firmly in place. Even Anya.

"We'll find him," she assured them. "We've got work to do."

No one argued.

* * *

Rupert was more than a little surprised to wake up at all, but once he realized he was alive he wasn't at all caught off guard by the throbbing in his skull that was centered at the back of his head. He remembered the demons, going down, the impact with that damned coffee table...

It took him another moment or so to put himself together enough remember he should be concerned about where he was.

He forced his eyes open, staring blearily at the dim surroundings. Almost before his vision cleared he could tell already that his captors had set up shop in one of the many abandoned or rarely used warehouses that littered the outskirts of Sunnydale. They seemed to be such a popular place for the creatures of darkness that inevitably came to the town to settle that he wasn't surprised about that, either. Giles realized he was sitting on the cold concrete floor, being held upright by the steel support beam at his back. His arms were behind him, around the beam, and his wrists were tied. It was uncomfortable, but not unbearable.

He _was_ surprised that his glasses had not yet been knocked from his face.

What surprised him even more was the assortment of beings he saw scattered inside. There were five or six demons, and nearly a dozen vampires. Some seemed to mill around aimlessly, and others were gathered in small groups. Two different circles of vampires played cards, and three of the demons present encircled a battered pool table. There were dilapidated chairs and couches and old pizza boxes, and off to one side of the space was an old metal desk with chairs gathered around it. The place looked for the all the world like the modern demons' version of a base of operations.

Demons and vampires both rarely gathered at all, much less with each other. It was quite strange indeed. It was obvious enough why the vampires were inside, though, and not out hunting; Giles could see cracks of daylight filtering in here and there—enough to keep the place from being any darker than it already was.

Giles kept quiet, trying to observe all he could before being noticed, but it wasn't much longer before a few of them realized he was awake. One of them he recognized as the green demon he had injured back at his apartment. Thanks to demon physiology the wound was already beginning to heal, but it still looked nasty. He took what satisfaction he could from that, giving a thing a cold stare as it grinned at him beastially. Then the small demon skittered to the side of a tall one that had been standing near another of the inside support beams several yards away. It seemed he had been just watching, keeping an eye on all those here.

"Sohlehk. The Watcher is awake," the small green demon reported eagerly.

The tall one called Sohlehk turned. Perhaps he was the leader here?

He was large, even taller than the horned orange beast that had broken in Giles's front door, and certainly taller than any normal human. He wasn't as thick-bodied as the other demon had been, but he had a certain presence. His color wouldn't have been strange on a human of medium skin tone, and but for his tough, thick hide and the ridges that went down the sides of his arms, across his forehead and down his cheeks he looked very similar to a human. His hands were strange, though. There were only three meaty fingers and a thumb on each, and in the centers of the palms there were more ridges, forming rough circles. The hide within the circles was nearly black, and instinctively Giles knew that some sort of power was meant to be gathered there—for whatever it was that this particular brand of demon could do. But he had never seen one of its like before. He had no idea what that might be.

But he would bet anything that it was something that had gotten this assortment of beings to follow him.

Sohlehk approached him, the small green lizard-like demon close at his heels as it sent menacing looks Giles's way.

"You have decided to join us," Sohlehk observed in a rumble.

"Yes. I supposed it was at least preferable to never waking up at all."

The lizard showed its teeth in that odd smirk again. "Don't be so certain of that."

If that was meant to alarm him—well, it suceeded. Not that any of these lot would ever know it.

"If you want the Slayer, why am I here?" he demanded.

"Without her Watcher the Slayer will be at a disadvantage."

Giles snorted. "I don't believe so; she is certainly more than capable without me. Where have you been for the last year and a half?"

"We were all locked away by the ridiculous humans in the green clothing," the small green demon hissed. "We were held captive for months on end."

The Initiative, he realized. These demons and vampires must have been among those trapped there that escaped when the facility tore itself apart. Apparently they didn't have the same 'behavior modification' technology in their cerebral cortexes as whatever had been inserted in Spike's brain.

Sohlehk took up the short narration. "Now that we are free, we will take the Slayer. Then this city will be ours."

Giles blinked. The assertion wasn't one to be taken lightly, especially when this demon seemed to have a good number of followers. However, that didn't mean he would give them the satisfaction of appearing to take them seriously. "Yes, well, good luck with that."

Seconds later the Watcher was staring at the floor, his head was spinning and pounding much louder than before, and his wrists were aching from behing pulled in unnatural directions as he hung bent over. Giles sucked in a breath and slowly straightened himself, wincing from the sting of two seperate scrapes in his cheek as he realized that Sohlehk had strode forward and struck him. Hard. He could already feel a bruise forming under the cuts from the demon's short but sharp nails.

"What the Slayer is or is not capable of with or without you does not matter. She will look for you. She will find you eventually, and we will have her."

"She isn't stupid, if that was what you were hoping for," Giles retorted.

"No. Of course not. We will take other measures." Sohlehk's eyes narrowed. "Beginning with you." He motioned, and the green lizard-like demon moved quickly to invade Giles's space. The scaly thing had strong claws much longer than Sohlehk had, and Giles had to force himself not to watch them as they danced near his face.

"You killed four of our companions," Sohlehk said quietly, menacingly. "And you left Dagkel injured. Therefore I believe that means he is the one entitled to take the revenge for the losses of the battle."

Dagkel hissed out something like a laugh, but Giles kept his eyes fixed definantly on Sohlehk. The lizard-like being beside him drew even closer, and he waited. When it seemed neither would expect anything, he moved. Tightening his arms and back to brace himself against the beam behind him, he snapped his legs up to kick the small green demon harshly to the side, but not far enough away that he couldn't come back to get his legs around the thing's neck. He planned to snap it.

But Dagkel barely managed to slither away, and in a second he had turned on Giles and ruthlessly stabbed one of his ugly talons through the rebellious human's shoulder.

Rupert screamed before he could stop himself. His entire body jerked from the pain. The lizard twisted the claw in his flesh, and that too hurt like hell.

Giles screwed his jaw shut and locked it that way, refusing to allow another outburst. He heard himself grunting, but he forced his mind to annalytical mode. The talon was long, but it was thin, and only curved slightly. His shoulder was on fire as if the whole of it had been ripped to shreds, but he knew the wound itself would not be as hopelessly large as it felt. And it was only flesh, not nerves or joint. More than likely he would still have full range of motion in the shoulder as soon as it healed...

Analyzing ceased to be effective.

As Dagkel twisted again Rupert gasped sharply, the air coming out again seconds later in a shout as his back arched away from the steel beam behind him. The the demon did it twice more, pulling a distressed groan and another gasp from its victim before it withdrew the claw from the wound none too carefully and backed away—still grinning it's nasty grin.

Giles slumped back against the beam. His skin was covered in a fine layer of sweat now, and he knew he was trembling. He didn't know how much of that could be seen by the demons and their vampire compatriots who stood gathered and leering.

There was little he could do about it either way.

In the haze of pain that settled over his consiousness, for a moment he heard Angel's voice instead of Sohlehk's—or, more correctly, the voice of Angelus. For a moment he was in a dark room of an abandoned mansion, tied to a chair instead of a warehouse's support beam.

"If you were to tell us where the Slayer lives, even give us a name...it would make our task that much easier to accomplish. It might even negate the need to keep you here much longer"

Buffy. They wanted him to give up Buffy. They would find her, and they would kill her, or try to, and he would have failed. Again. And then they would probably kill him anyway.

Giles pushed back with his feet and straightened as much as he could, chest still heaving to some degree. He pulled his head up and glared at the demons and vampires alike, before focusing on Sohlehk.

"Kindly...go...to hell."

* * *

After the bodies were cleared from the apartment, the Scoobies split up into teams, took starting location assignments from Buffy, and headed out to begin an initial sweep of Sunnydale. By that point Buffy was wired, obviously more than a little concerned about what might have become of Giles, and too keyed-up to deal with a partner in the field. That was how Xander had ended up here, patrolling with Riley Finn. With Buffy out on her own and Willow and Tara together, that made three fronts for the search. Anya was back at Giles's place, manning the phone at what had become command central.

The two young men had seen nothing so far, but Xander still held the crossbow he carried warily. Maybe it was daylight, afternoon, but there could still be danger in that shadows. Besides that, it had been demons to break into Giles's home, not vampires. Vampires wouldn't have been able to get in in the first place. Therefore, crossbow. A weapon. Protection. Riley carried his own handgun, and had a stake tucked into a back pocket as they scanned the alleys and abandoned buildings of downtown Sunnydale from the center out. There wasn't much talking, but that was fine. They were supposed to be paying attention to their surroundings, anyway.

Xander followed Riley as they rounded a corner, moving from a smaller side alley into a larger one. On a better day he would have let his macho take over, insisted on taking the lead at least some of the time, but not today. Riley had more training, and Xander knew it. He also knew that he wanted them to have the best chance of staying alive themselves, and finding Giles—alive.

Riley frowned, and Xander looked at him curiously, questionig him after a moment. "What?"

"Haven't we been down this alley before?"

"Aren't you keeping up with that?"

"Trying to. Thought you were keeping up that."

"Hey, you're the smart one here. I never even _pretended _to go to college, remember?"

Riley opened his mouth to protest that, but quickly shut it again. There was no point. He let out a breath. "Sorry."

Xander shrugged. "Whatever. Doesn't really matter; can't hurt to look somewhere twice. We don't need to miss anything."

The other man nodded slowly. "I'm getting that. We can't afford to screw this one up, can we?"

"Not if we want Buffy in one piece, no."

Riley looked at him sharply, and Xander winced. "We have to find him, Riley. I know for sure Willow and I would be pretty heartbroken if anything happened to him, and...I'm guessing you and Anya and Tara would be a little put out, but I don't even want to _think_ about what Buffy would do." He looked away, realizing he was having one of his few-and-far-between serious moments, and was as usual a little freaked out but not quite sure what else to do but just go with it. "Unfortunately, my first guess would have to be that she'd go on a rampage after whatever did it and get herself killed in the process."

When he looked back, Riley just stared at him for a moment before saying anything. "You're serious."

"Dead serious."

Xander watched his companion; watched as Riley realized a few things about his girlfriend that he might not have thought so much about before.

"Actually, that...makes some sense," army-boy said finally.

"So no telling me I'm wrong, or I'm crazy? Most people seem to like doing that."

Riley grimaced. "I wish I could, but...I don't think you're wrong."

Xander nodded silently and motioned forward with the crossbow. "Well, I'd really rather not get to congratulate myself on being right, so..."

Riley nodded once, grimly, and the two of them moved on.


	3. Chapter 3

Thanks so much for the reviews, ya'll! It made it much easier to get this chapter up quickly. ;) I hope to continue to hear from you all. Thanks again! I hope you enjoy this chapter, and have a Happy New Year!

Chapter 3

Riley and Xander were the last to make it back to Giles's place that afternoon, and Buffy quickly ushered them in and shut the door behind them.

"What's with the recall, Buffy?" Willow questioned from the couch.

Buffy moved around into the kitchen and began bringing out what she'd dug up just before the others arrived. "I don't want to waste time any more than the rest of you do, but I don't think any of us have had anything to eat since the Expresso Pump this morning. We all need to refuel, and we might as well go over anything we've got so far." The boys helped her in carrying the food to the table in the main room—most of it leftovers and the like.

Xander glanced into a container before he set it down. "So you raided Giles's refrigerator? Dontcha think he'll be ticked off about that later?"

"I think he'll understand This is faster, and we can always replace things later—_when_ we find him." she answered with convinction. The others weren't moving yet, and she made sweeping motions toward the table. "Come on, let's eat. We need to get back out there as soon as we can."

"Yes, and leave me alone to be useless again," Anya grumbled, digging in without hesitation. Xander followed her lead, slipping an arm around her shoulders to give her a brief squeeze of sympathy.

Buffy let out a breath as she spooned leftovers onto a plate. Her stomach was growling even looking at the stuff cold. She had to admit that, when he did it, Giles was quite the cook. "I'm sorry, Anya, but we need someone here in case whoever took him tries to contact us—or if he finds a way out. Here and my house are the two main places I can think of that would need to be covered in the instance of _either_ of those possibilities, and we have my mom to stay at my house."

She headed back for the kitchen, en route to make use of the ancient microwave. Back in the main room she heard Anya respond in confusion.

"And all of that meant what?"

"That you're not useless," Xander answered.

"Ah. Well, I'll take your word for it."

By the time Buffy made it back out everyone had something on a plate, and Xander slipped past her to take his turn at the microwave. Buffy found a chair at the table and sat down heavily. "So how are we doing? Anything at all?"

"Not so much as a single vampire," Willow shrugged forlornly.

Riley sat beside beside Buffy, and she slid her chair closer as he made his own report. "Saw a couple groups of kids that looked suspicious—thought maybe they were vamps, or something else, but they turned out to be just what they looked like. Groups of suspicious-looking kids."

Buffy squeezed his hand. "I haven't seen anything either. Hopefully we'll have more luck after dark."

Xander returned and sat with the rest of them, and when he did Tara stood to bring both her plate and Willow's into the kitchen to warm them. Willow smiled at her in thanks and then focused on Buffy again. "Dark. Yay. Where the nasty things thrive."

Buffy grimaced. "Just be careful. All of you."

"You got it, Buff," Xander nodded. "You know us; we've done this before. One hundred percent vigilance. I'd rather not wake up dead, myself."

"That made no sense," Anya complained.

"You're stealing my thunder, hon."

Buffy smiled at them, just a little. She knew it was a tired smiled, but it was something. Beyond that, trying to do anything but focus on the problem at hand just wasn't working for her. Not when it was Giles. Not if it was_ any_ of her friends, but certainly not when it was Giles.

"Guys..."

Xander's eyebrows went up as he looked at her, and as Tara came back and sat down everyone else seemed to look at her too.

None of them had to ask to know what she was saying.

After a moment Xander broke the silence, smiling gently in understanding as he nodded amiably and dug a fork into the food he'd momentarily forgotten. "Right. Eating and leaving." He nodded once more. "Eating and leaving."

He stuck the full fork in his mouth, and Buffy went back to her own food. She had to shove a bite in quickly to have an excuse to swallow; to gulp back the lump that threatened to form in her throat.

They all cared about Giles. They all cared enough to do whatever was necessary to get him back safely, and they didn't mind taking her orders for now if it meant that might happen sooner.

Buffy could only hope with an ache akin to physical pain that they found Giles in time. He needed to know how they felt.

* * *

Giles had learned quickly that Sohlehk and his fellows didn't take kindly to sarsasm or to not being given what they wanted, and much of his body now ached to prove it. He didn't want to think about what the bruises would look like in a day or two.

If he was still alive in a day or two.

He wanted to tell himself that Buffy would come. She and the others would find him. He would be rescued, and everything would be just fine. But part of him didn't want Buffy anywhere near this place. There were too many hostiles here—too many enemies. She would never be able to handle them all on her own, and that was simple fact and not any reflection on her power or skill. There were just too many.

The bottom line for Rupert was that he seemed to be in a lose-lose situation. If the others never found him, he would be deemed useless eventually, and more than likely killed. If they did, an attempted rescue of any kind at all could result in someone he cared about being hurt. Possibly killed.

And he couldn't bear the thought of that at all.

Giles swallowed to himself and shifted position slighty on the concrete floor. It didn't take long in one place for the cold surface to numb his legs, and periodically changing position was the only thing that kept the blood flowing. It would have been much easier without the deep bruises and the shoulder wound, but there was nothing he could do about those. There was nothing he could do about his vision, either, which was a little blurry now that his glasses had been long since knocked to the floor beside him.

He grimaced as he moved, and his breath hitched as his shoulder flared with pain. At the same time he realized that there might be a cracked rib in there after all, and he let out a frustrated breath as he stopped moving and let his head fall back against the steel beam behind him. The cool metal was almost soothing there, but the edges that bit into the back of his skull if he rested that way for too long prevented the position from being too comfortable.

With his wrists tied on the other side of the beam behind him, there _wa_s no comfortable, and certainly not after being beaten. They had left him alone for a few hours now, probably hoping that allowing him to sit and suffer for a while would change his mind—that he would tell them what they wanted to know before he would let them hurt him any further.

But if so, they underestimated him.

Either way, he wasn't going to sit around to find out if he didn't have to. He'd been testing the ropes, twisting and tugging as much as he could when none of the demons or vampires were looking. He wasn't sure what he could do even if he managed to free himself—not with this many around—but he had to do _something_. If he sat and did nothing he was afraid he might lose it. He didn't want to feel useless; it was a feeling he'd grown much too familiar with in the past months.

The ropes were feeling a little more loose than before, and he was beginning to think he might actually be able to get out of them if only he had enough time...

But Giles doubted they would leave him be for much longer.

* * *

The sun was nearly gone, and Willow kept a constant hold on Tara's hand now, as they conducted their search. They both had power, but they were stronger together. They both wanted to be ready for whatever they might come across, and staying connected and keeping their combined power circulating between them was the best way to do that.

Willow carried a small crossbow, too, in her free hand, but better safe than sorry, she always said—or thought she should always say, anyway.

The touch created something of a bond, and she could feel that Tara was anxious, a little worried. She didn't know how much of that was for Giles and how much was for themselves. Either way, over-riding it was Tara's sense of quiet determination. She wanted to help just as much as Willow did, and Willow was glad that she was feeling included at the moment. They were really only beginning, in the subtle effort to integrate Tara into the Scooby Gang, but already she was feeling positive about it.

And no matter how that went, she was just glad to have someone in her life again. Sometimes she wondered if Tara were Goddess-sent.

It wouldn't have surprised her in the least.

"It's...getting dark..." Tara murmured a moment later.

Willow shivered just a bit, making certain to keep her crossbow at the ready and her grip tight on the hand in hers. "Never was much of a fan of the whole dark thing myself. Ask Xander. We spent a lot of sleepovers in blanket tents with flashlights, reading happy books until we fell asleep."

"So that was before the—the monsters? Before you knew i-it was all...real?"

"Oh yeah. Knowing just made it worse. Well, at first. Then I guess, you know, I got kinda used it, but...then again, it's still kinda weird sometimes.

"I guess I know what you mean. It seems like I've always known things about the dark side of the world, but sometimes it just seems strange to me, too...just because most people _don't _know."

Wiillow nodded. "Exactly." Even though they were taling, she thought she was paying attention. She thought she was ready.

But she wasn't prepared when a snarling form jumped from the shadows and knocked Tara into the wall of the alley and away from her grasp. Her girlfriend's head struck the bricks, and she crumpled to the ground in a heap.

"Tara!"

The vampire whirled on Willow, ripping the crossbow from her grasp and shoving her back into the opposite alley wall before it went back to Tara. Willow scrambled for the crossbow, but as she was grabboing for it she heard a mutter below the snarls of the vampire that had once been a young man. Her fingers closed around the weapon, and as she turned a small, brief flash of blinding light flickered between Tara and the vampire. That was when Willow realized that the other girl was awake, and the alarmed muttering had been a spell, mumbled when she woke and found herself about to be sucked dry by by a creature of the night.

Willow didn't waste time getting back to her feet when the vampire staggered back in surprise, covering it's eyes. She jerked her arms up to aim and fired, sending a bolt from the crossbow into the vampire's back.

But it didn't turn to dust.

Tara, more awake now, cried out. "You missed the heart!"

"Thanks, sweetie! I got that!" The vampire roared in pain and was turning on her again, and Willow quickly fired once more. This time the bolt caught the thing in the chest, and in the right place. It dissolved into dust in the middle of a lunge for the red-headed witch's throat.

Willow swallowed and looked across the narrow alley to Tara. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. You were amazing."

She grinned. "So were you."

"Well..." Tara trailed.

Willow stood and crossed the alley to help the her girlfriend to her feet. "No arguing; we have a British guy to find." She frowned when Tara winced and rubbed carefully at the back of her head. "Are you sure you're all right?"

"I'll be fine. Uhm...sh-shouldn't we call in, or something?"

"Nah, that was just one vamp. I doubt it had anything to do with what we're looking for. You were right, though. It's dark. Time for being extra careful, especially since it's just the two of us."

Tara took her hand again and smiled that shy smile of hers that somehow seemed so confident at the same time. "We'll be fine; I always feel safe with you."

Willow blushed, and as they continued on she laughed a little and called back to the debrief at Giles's apartment. "Well, so much for not-even-a-single-vampire."

* * *

When Sohlehk turned away from watching the others and headed for Giles's corner, Rupert straightened again. No sign of weakness. Not if he could help it. He had once been a highly respected Watcher, damnit, and now, at least to Buffy, he was again. That counted for _something..._at least to himself.

The demon towered over him, looking down disdainfully. "Well, Watcher?"

Giles made a show of blinking a few times before looking up, as if he'd just come out of his thoughts. "I'm sorry; did you say something?"

Sohlehk snarled and lashed out, his heavy foot slamming into Giles's midsection and sinking deep. Rupert found himself doubled over, gaping for air as he saw dark spots swimming before his eyes and the wave of pain from the impact went clear through to his back and travelled up to his neck. "I am not here to play games!" The demon paused for a moment. "I will not allow you to die until we have the Slayer."

"Well how very nice for me then; I'll live," Giles gasped. With considerable effort he straightened again, and saw that the demon was still glaring down at him.

"You have so much faith in your Slayer? Perhaps she has powers—strength. That is true. But she is only a girl."

Giles's eyebrows went up, and he answered quietly. "That is where you're wrong." Sohlehk just stared at him, and he went on. When he did, he couldn't hide the ghost of a smiled that tugged at the corners of his lips. Even if she had not asked him to serve as her Watcher again, he would still be proud of Buffy.

"Yes, she is human—perhaps much more human than the Slayers of the past have dared allowed themselves to be—but she is much more, and very little of that comes merely from her power." He shrugged slightly, only with his uninjured shoulder, before he finished quietly. "But no matter what else she is, she _is_ human. A person. A life. And as such, no matter the cost to myself I cannot do anything that would aid you in killing her."

As he fell silent Rupert looked up unflinchingly, part of him fearful that what'd he said would set the demon off again and the rest of him calmly accepting of what might happen if it did. As events usually fell in the world of the Slayers, it was the Watcher most often left to grieve...but from the moment he had read the prophecy that the Slayer would die at the hands of the Master, from the moment Buffy the girl had whispered in that small, quavering voice that she didn't want to die...Giles had known that he would never hesitate, if it came to it.

He would give his life for her.

Sohlehk continued to stare, unmoving, for one of the longest moments of Giles's life.

And then he laughed.

"Kill her? Why would I kill her? Do you think we have not heard the lore? One Slayer dies, and the next is called. We do not wish to _kill_ her." He motioned to the others in the warehouse, and that was when Giles realized that it was dark. The vampires began to slip out into the night, and the demons remained to take up what must have been guard or watch positions near the entrances. "We only want her out of the way."

Giles stared for a long moment, horrified. He could only imagine what that might mean, and none of the options his imagination conjured were pleasant. "What?" he managed finally.

Dagkel was the only one to not take a post. He skittered over, his pointed teeth showing as he glanced up at the taller demon Giles was now certain had to be in charge here. "When we have the Slayer, Sohlehk will trap her in a nightmare. She will be helpless to stop us."

The leader didn't smile, but he sounded almost smug as he spoke next. "And she will suffer."

He knew his eyes were wide, and Rupert opted to stare toward far wall of the warehouse at nothing instead of at Sohlehk as he panicked silently. _Bloody hell..._

A moment later the demon's voice cut into his thoughts. "Well, Watcher?" he said, repeating himself from minutes before. "Do you still plan to ruin my night as you ruined my day?"

Giles fought the urge to swallow, and looked at Sohlehk again. "I believe I do, actually."

The demon kicked him again, more to the side this time to avoid any resistance from the human's legs. It hurt just as much, and Rupert gasped, tugging again at the ropes holding him to the steel beam. They loosened a little more, but not enough. On his other side Dagkel grabbed at the shoulder wound he had caused, digging one of his smaller claws into the opening and tugging only lightly. But it was plenty.

Giles gasped again, letting out an unwanted cry of pain after, and his already imperfect vision began to swim as he sunk back against the metal behind him, involuntarily trying to get away from the demon's claws and the fresh, sharp pain. Through all of that he was only barely able to hear Sohlehk, who still sounded rather smug.

"It is of little consequence. With or without your aid, we will find her eventually."


	4. Chapter 4

Happy New Year! Again. Just in case you missed it last time. :P Anyway, here ya go ya'll. I hope you enjoy it, and please do review if you're still reading. It helps a lot. Thanks so much for those of you who have left comments! :)

Chapter 4

The alleys near Sunnydale's docks were much more damp and dank and smelly than the ones in the middle of town, and Buffy was ready to be out of them. She was ready to find something and make it lead her to Giles. She was ready to _find_ Giles and know that he was all right. More than ready.

When two vampires came around the corner, she decided that for the moment a fight would have to do.

They didn't look surprised to see her. They were both male—a big thick one and a...not-quite-so-thick one. Neither of them were small. But that didn't matter.

Buffy raised the stake that had been in her hand all along. "Looking for some fun, boys? Come on; I'm in the mood to party."

"Slayer," one of them grinned.

"_Very_ good. You have all A's on your report card; you get to come to the party."

They both lunged at her, and Buffy lashed out with a chest kick that sent the smaller of the two back into a dumpster, leaving just the big one to fight for the moment. He managed to get to her side and grab a shoulder before her foot found the ground again, and she head-butted him. He staggered back. Buffy kicked him in the face, disorienting him further, and she staked him. He was turning to dust when his smaller friend made it back to his feet.

Buffy spun with a two-fisted blow that knocked the vamp into a wall, and before he could blink away the shock she was pressing him back against the bricks with the point of her stake pressed into his shirt just over his heart.

"What do you know about what's going on around here these days? Hmm? You working for somebody? Is there somebody new in town?"

The vampire smirked, and his demon visage dissolved into a normal human face. "He was right. You're looking for the Watcher. A lot of us had doubts, considering he not _really _a Watcher anymore..."

She pressed on him harder, letting the point of the stake cut into his skin. "_He_? He who? What are you talking about and where the _hell_ is Giles?"

The vamp winced, attitude disappearing. "Let me live and I'll show you where they have him!"

Alarm bells went off. True, vampires had a strong sense of self-preservation...but this could just as easily have been planned. It could be a trap. It was _probably_ a trap. If he was working for someone he likely wouldn't have said anything at all if whoever was in charge didn't want to be found.

Which might mean they wanted her.

"How about this? You tell me where he is right now and I don't kill you." Not that she would ever really let him live, of course, but lying to a demon wasn't high on her list of sins to avoid.

When the vamp only smirked at that, Buffy huffed. "Never mind." She dusted him, and she was gone before his ashes settled. As much as she was still worried for Giles, she welcomed the small surge of triumph. Finally, some type of lead.

She had to be close.

The sound of fighting somewhere just out of sight brought her running, and Buffy rounded a corner into a new alley to find a demon having it out with—

"Spike??"

The bleached-blonde vampire had gotten hold of the blue demon's neck, and he twisted, breaking it. He let the thing's body fall to the ground and strolled toward her, brushing his hands off. "What?"

"What are you doing here?"

"Same thing I've been doing for months, pet—finding thr action where I can. Been a pretty busy summer, too, what the Initiative going down in flames and all." He glanced back at the dead demon. "Guess it's not over." he looked back at her. "What do _you_ want?"

Buffy crossed her arms, knowing he wouldn't care but answering the question anyway. "Giles is missing. I'm beginning to think there's some kind of vampire-demon conspiracy going on, because _something_ broke into his house—obviously not vamps, but I just ran into one who seemed to know something. But I had to dust him."

Spike just stared at her for a moment. "Yes, well, have fun with that. I'm all over the demons, but if my own kind are involved I'll stay out of it, thanks. Not quite to the killing of my own kind yet, unless I have to, and all that. Now if you'll kindly sod off, there are more buggers around here waiting to be killed, and I was here first."

She scoffed. "How do _you_ know? You don't know how long I've been here."

"Hey, _I _called it, so _you_ can go find your _own_ hunting grounds, Slayer.

Done with the niceties, Buffy closed the distance between them and punched him in the face.

Spike reeled back, holding his nose. "Hey! This time I didn't do anything!" He glared at her angrily, but she knew he couldnt hurt her, and he knew it too--thanks to the Initiative's technology.

"You've done enough in the past to earn punching-bag priveleges for the rest of your possibly very-short afterlife. I don't have time for this right now, Spike. Either help me find Giles, or get moving and stay out of my way."

He snorted. "And seeing as the helping doesn't appeal much..." He rounded her and kept on his way down the alley, rubbing at his nose once more before letting his hand drop again as he took up his usual cocky stroll.

Buffy shook her head in disgust and returned to her search. She thought she heard movement, at the opposite end of the alley, but even though she ran there was nothing there when she got there. Only a disappearing shadow told her that she'd been right.

"Gotcha," she whispered.

Silently, she followed it.

* * *

Giles wasn't certain how much later it was, but his internal clock told him it had to have been at least a couple of hours since Sohlehk and Dagkel had taken an interest in him again—only one or so since they'd abandoned him once more. If there had been any doubt in his mind before about the possibility of cracked ribs, it was gone. It was more a question of how many now.

But he almost had the ropes loose enough. He could ignore the injuries long enough to make a move if it meant getting out of here. He had to try, or Sohlehk might have the chance to use him against Buffy. And now was the time to try, with fewer obstacles, while the vampires were still out. Of course it would be suicide to try to fight even the few demons that were here by himself, especially in his current state, but if he could cause a distraction just long enough to slip out...

There wasn't much chance of success, but if he failed...Sohlehk didn't have Buffy, and Giles was counting on the demon wanting to keep him alive for insurance until he had her.

He was contemplating just what kind of move to make when a single vampire burst through one the side doors. "The Slayer is nearby! She's already killed two of us, but so far I don't think she's seen any of the rest of us..."

Rupert's eyebrows went up in alarm, but he stayed quiet. _Buffy..._

Sohlehk looked up from where he'd been standing quietly. "Find the group closest to her, and have them herd her here. Then find the others, and the rest of you come straight back."

"Of course," the vamp grinned. It turned and left again.

Giles straightened, with some difficulty, grunting in pain as he redoubled his efforts anew with the ropes. He was running out of time. If he couldn't free himself before the vampires began to return...

He only needed a few more moments. Then, perhaps, he could get out. He could find Buffy first, and warn her.

He wondered if he _had_ a few more moments.

* * *

From the fire escape ladder that led to the roof of the warehouse Buffy could see in through one of the high, dingy windows. With the dark out, they wouldn't be able to see her unless they were really looking. But she could see them, and she watched as the vampire she'd followed here left again. She thought about going after it, but it would be long gone by the time she got down the ladder and went around the building to the door it had left through. So she focused again on taking stock of the situation inside.

"Giles," she whispered.

He didn't look good. He wasn't half dead, either, but he looked bad enough to cause some serious silent freaking out. His face was bruised and cut, and when he moved he grimaced in a way that made it pretty clear there was more damage there than the glaringly obvious shoulder wound—said wound which had left too much blood soaked into his sweater for Buffy's peace of mind.

Then she realized he was working at the ropes.

Buffy resisted the urge to yell at him. _Bad bad bad...Where's Willow when you need her? I need some silent communication here: Giles, just sit tight! Don't get yourself killed! _

Of course it didn't work. Not without Willow to boost.

Five demons. There were five demons in there, and there was no telling how many vamps were on the way. If she acted now there was a good chance she could take the demons on her own and get Giles out, but there was no way to know how much time she had before their friends started showing up. She'd have to call for backup. She hated it, hating waiting to get Giles out of there, but she had no choice.

Buffy started to back down the ladder, but a noise below stopped her. Freezing, she looked down to see four vampires round into the alley and start toward the closest side door into the warehouse. She remained silent until they were inside; if she started a fight here everyone inside would know she'd found them.

When they were gone she shot down a few more rungs and then dropped the rest of the way to the ground, cursing quietly. She'd thought it would take longer than that, but apparently at least a few of them hadn't gone very far.

She had to get the rest of the gang here, and she had to get them here _now_.

* * *

His hands were free, but Giles froze as four vampires came in from outside, grinning. They had to have been close; they looked as if they'd already heard the news.

"Slayer's comin'?" one of them asked.

Yes. They'd heard.

Sohlehk smiled coldly. "We will have her soon."

Rupert's heart sank. Whether or not that meant they really would, he didn't know—but he knew his chances of escaping on his own were even smaller now. Not that he'd had much of a chance before, but...hope was a powerful thing. He could could feel what of it he had fading.

_Damnit, Buffy, you have to have noticed something by now. Get out of here; get backup..._

Then he saw his opening. The one demon covering the other side door, the one nearest him, moved away away from his post just enough to hear the conversation going on across the room. But it was enough that Giles thought he might be able to slip out behind the thing as long as he moved carefully and kept quiet.

Sohlehk glanced at him once. Giles didn't make eye contact, rested heavily against the beam behind him for a moment and casually made a show of looking worn out. When the demon turned away again, Rupert moved, thankful that they seemed to have thought that it would be easier to keep on eye on him if they kept him in a corner. In theory that might have been true, but now it gave him the advantage of less light—less of a chance of being noticed.

His shoulder and ribs complained loudly, but he got to his feet, holding his left arm—the one with the damaged shoulder—close to his body. He slipped back to the wall to press himself there as he inched toward the somewhat-unguarded door.

He was nearly there when they realized he wasn't in his place.

"The human!" one of the vampires snarled suddenly. "Where is he?"

Giles made a break for it. The door was mere feet away. It was dark, and these were Sunnydale alleys. If he could get outside, he had a chance. If he couldn't run far, he could hide.

The demon that had come dangerously close to shirking his duties shot back to his post and grabbed at him, and Rupert managed a vicious punch that wrenched a shout from his lips and left his entire body screaming at him even though he'd used his good arm. It did send his attacker reeling backward though, and he felt some satisfaction at that.

But he couldn't fight. Not like this. He kept going, but even the time it had taken to get the demon off his back had been too much. He was just barely out the door, but two of the vampires caught up with him and dragged him back inside. They pulled him by the arms, and the stress on his wounded shoulder nearly caused enough pain to black him out right then and there. As it was, his vision and the sounds around him dimmed, and if he was making any noise in protest at all he would never have known it.

Then he was on his knees, and the feet in front of him he could hardly see were Sohlehk's.

* * *

Buffy was only halfway down the alley on her way to search for a phone when she heard the first shout. It wasn't a voice she recognized, but what it said was what made her freeze.

"The human! Where is he?"

"Giles!" She turned on her heel and ran back to the ladder. Before she was all the way up she heard the next shout.

This one was an angered shout of pain, and this time it was definitely Giles.

By the time she was high enough to see inside they were dragging him back in to a chorus of shouts and jeers from the other demons and vamps. By the time the two vampiers who'd snagged Giles dropped him on his knees in front of the largest demon she saw in there—the leader, she assumed—he seemed barely aware of anything at all. He let himself stay doubled over, his right hand clamped over the wounded shoulder and his other arm clutched around his ribs as he sucked in air through his teeth.

Buffy was frozen where she stood. "No..."

Her first thought was that the demon was going to kill him.

"So you had more left in you than I supposed," the large demon growled. "Perhaps you deserve some credit for that; but not enough to allow you to interfere with our plans." He looked up again. "We don't need this one causing trouble when the Slayer arrives." Then he motioned to one of vampires, and Buffy was sure her heart stopped. "Make certain he can't."

"Gladly," the vamp snickered.

Buffy saw Giles flinch, saw him try to move...and saw him fail.

_No!_

The vampire was moving in on him, and though she heard the demon add, "But don't kill him," it didn't register enough to stop her from dropping off the ladder and running for the door. She only paused long enough to pick up a jagged length of pipe from the alley floor to add to the stake in her other hand, and then, just as she heard another shout from Giles, she was through the door before she'd really thought any further.

"Get away from him!"

Every single one of them turned to stare, and the vamp that was crouched over Giles jerked up, lips already bloodied. Buffy's heart skipped a beat, but in another second she realized her Watcher was still alive, albeit sans some of his blood. His eyes flickered open groggily.

"Buffy...?"

The vampire she was glaring at murdurously released the grip he'd still had on Giles's sweater, and Giles shakily let a hand drop to the floor and was able to steady himself just enough to keep from toppling off his knees.

Buffy said what she hadn't been able to communicate to him several minutes before. "Sit tight, Giles. This'll be over in a minute." One way another, it would be over. Five demons, four vampires, and it looked like one of the smaller demons was injured.

She could do this. She _had_ to do this, and get Giles out of here, or in a few minutes they'd likely both be dead.

The largest demon, the one is charge, nodded once. That was all he did, and then the others were on her—or were trying to be on her. She drove her stake into the heart of the first vampire that came at her, and turned to shove the jagged end of the pipe through the throat of one of the demons. The vamp dusted, the demon dropped; her stake was covered in ash, and the pipe coated in brown blood as she threw herself into fighting the others.

But over the noise, somehow she could still hear Giles. His voice was weak but urgent, and she could only assume that she could hear him because, after all these years, her ears were trained to listen for him—even if sometimes she didn't want to listen at all.

"...too many....run!"

She didn't catch all of the words, but she heard what was important.

She heard it, but it was too late for that now.

There was no going back. They would never let her get away even if she did run.

After staking another of the vamps one of the demons sideswipped her, ripping the bottom half of her shirt and leaving clawmarks in her flesh, but with a Slayer's healing abilities it really wasn't something to worry a lot about.

Hurt like hell though.

Buffy swung and rammed the pipe into the thing's eye, straight through to the back of its head, and it went down. Another demon reached for her, but she danced out of the way and headed for the vamp that had taken blood from Giles. The bastard was going to pay for that.

She never got there. Something hit her from behind. She was sure she'd known where all of the remaining adversaries were, but then she realized that more of the group's vampire buddies must have arrived and come in the same way she had. Buffy twisted, fighting to get up, but there were too many of them. She only managed to dust one more before the stake and pipe were knocked from her hand.

"Buffy!"

She heard the breathless bark of her name and knew it was Giles, but there was nothing she could do. One of the vampires pulled her head up from the floor and she strained to pull away, but she wasn't able to do it before, laughing, the thing slammed her back to the floor and the lights went out.

* * *

When Buffy's head hit the concrete floor it made the kind of sickening sound Giles was certain he'd never wanted to hear, but the way Sohlehk ordered them to tie her up told him that at least she was still alive—though he wondered how they expected mere ropes to hold the Slayer.

His neck ached along with everything else, and he didn't have the strength to move much himself, or he would have made an effort to get to her before two of the vamps dragged him back to his own corner. The world fuzzed out in pain again, and when everything cleared he was tied to the beam again, much more tightly this time, and several feet away Buffy was tied to the next one. He wasn't sure how long it was before she started to come around again, but he knew it felt like an eternity to him.

"Wha...?" She blinked and picked up her head, grimacing. When she noticed the ropes she groaned. "Okay...who's the smart-ass?" she snorted. "Like _this_ is gonna work for long."

"Buffy? Are you all right?"

Her eyes snapped to him immediately, wide and searching as she examined him. "Giles? Yeah, I'm fine. You don't look so hot though."

"Thank you very much for the vote of confidence..." Rupert knew his voice was weak. He knew _he_ was weak. That much was made certain by the fact that he'd lost blood to a vampire.

It didn't mean he wasn't going to do his best to keep Buffy from worrying. That was the last thing she needed, if she was going to think clearly enough to get them both out of this.

Which was, undoubtedly, up to her now—seeing as he was having trouble just staying awake at the moment.

Buffy gave him a small smile. "Don't worry. We'll be outta here in no time."

Giles just hoped she was right. There were only three demons left, one besides Sohlehk and Dagkel, but all of the vampires had returned to the fold. He figured there were eight or so left, but his vision wasn't good enough to allow him to count them, especially when half were well across the warehouse.

Buffy promptly began to push at the ropes, and he could hear them beginning to snap even as Sohlehk and Dagkel approached her.

"Buffy..."

She looked up and saw them, and raised an eyebrow once they'd seen her looking at them. "Like I was saying. Ropes? Really guys. In approximately two seconds I'll be out of these, and the rest of your night won't go very well after that."

Sohlehk nodded once. "You are strong. You rely on your strength to defeat your enemies and extract yourself and your friends from harm's way." His head cocked to the side a bit. "You will not have that chance now."

"Okay, I'm not even gonna try to figure that one out; I'm just gonna kick your ass." But before she could push once more and snap the ropes altogether, Sohlehk reached out and clamped a hand on her forehead. A bright blue light came from his plam and covered her for a moment, and Buffy shouted and dropped back against the beam behind her, unconsious again.

"Buffy!" Giles sat forward quickly, regretting it when pain shot through his chest and shoulder. "What did you—"

"_I _did nothing but trap her in her own mind," Sohlehk said quietly. "It is her fears that will determine the nightmare."


	5. Chapter 5

Well our break from school lasted until today, so ya'll get this next chapter sooner. Thanks to those of you who have reviewed! I'd love to continue to hear from ya'll. If you who haven't would like me to continue to try to get the chapters out quickly though, please review. It's hard to believe anyone's reading if nobody says anything, after all. :)

Chapter 5

When Buffy woke, her head felt stuffy and there was light seeping into the warehouse from outside. _Too long....no no no, I was out way too long. Giles! _

She sat up quickly, worried that in the time she'd been out of commision they'd—

No. There he was, several feet away and tied to one of the support beams as she was. Giles was still alive, but unconsious. She could make out the subtle in and out of his chest as he breathed, but it was shallow. He looked worse than when she'd last seen him, before she was knocked out. He looked small and weak and much, much too pale. Maybe the vamp had taken more blood than she'd thought he had time to. That, or more could have been taken while she was out. It wasn't a sight she welcomed.

Few things scared her, but seeing her Watcher like that scared the hell out of her.

Quickly she took stock of the situation. There were nine vampires left, and three demons. As it was daytime, she knew there wouldn't be any surprise attacks from outside. She could do this.

Hopefully.

"Okay," Buffy growled. "That was a fun game, but I'm done playing." In seconds she'd snapped through she ropes she'd already weakened before, and she was on her feet. "Game over."

The larger demon, the leader, came at her first, but she sidestepped him and moved on to the smaller targets. She would deal with big-boy-in-charge last, if she could avoid him well enough until then. It only made sense; she had a feeling taking him down would require a bit of concentration, and that would be hard to do with his minions attacking her from all sides.

So the minions would go down first.

Buffy leveled two or three vamps on her way to the seating area situated around a desk at the edge of the large space, and quickly snapped the leg from a chair and spun to face her opponents.

"You'd think you guys would learn not to keep wood around at all," she mussed, staking one easily. She had a hand around the throat of another one when the main double doors of the warehouse burst open and one vamp went up in flames immediately.

"Buffy!"

She heard both Willow and Riley calling her name simultaneously, and grinned as she dusted the vamp in her grip. They were all there: Xander, Willow, Anya, Tara, and Riley, all armed to the gills but for the two witches, who only carried precutionary weaponry. "Just in time."

"Aren't we usually?" Xander commented flippantly.

"Six vamps, three demons, the big demon is mine, and let's make this quick—Giles needs a hospital, pronto," she called back to them. Her friends spread out, and Buffy scanned for the leader.

Then she remembered the vampire who had fed off Giles.

The face burned into her memory in fury, she found him quickly—just as a bolt from Xander's crossbow dusted him.

Fine then. She could take out her anger on the demon who had given the order.

Buffy didn't have to find him. He found her, swinging in from the side with a clubbing blow to her head that sent her to her hands and knees for a moment. She allowed herself to seeth quietly for all of a microsecond. "I am so done with this," she snarled fnally.

"Buffy, heads up!" She jumped back to her feet just in time to catch the extra battle axe Riley tossed to her, and then her boyfriend hefted his own and went back to taking on the two smaller lizard-like demons who were circling him. The rest of the Scoobies were taking care of the vampires, and now Buffy had the time and the means to take down the big guy.

"You and me, buddy. Bring it on," she taunted.

The demon smirked. "You have already lost. You will never escape."

"Oh really? It looks like I'm pretty close to escaping right now." He didn't answer. He only continued to smirk at her, and it was becoming annoying. And...well...maybe a little unnerving. He was looking at her like he knew something she didn't, and she hated that. Which meant smalltalk was over.

Buffy feigned one way and then attacked from the other, swinging in a calculated blow that almost landed. But the demon blocked the blow, and the handle bounced harmlessly off his arm. He shot in and grabbed her throat, and lifted her off the ground. She kicked at his chest, and when that did little good she swung the battle axe up between his arms. He held her at arms length, and the axe wasn't long enough to kill him from there, but it left a gash across his neck and up his chin, and he dropped her when he roared in pain.

"See how _you_ like it," she snapped. "Next time you want to hang out in Sunnydale, leave my Watcher _alone_." Buffy paused. "Oh wait. There won't _be_ a next time for you."

She let him come at her this time, and hacked a gouge into an arm before he tossed her into a wall. She had a few seconds to take a glance to check on her friends, and saw Anya shove one vamp into the sunlight streaming through the open doors just as Willow and Tara made another burst into flames with their magic.

Buffy smiled to herself in satisfaction and turned her attantion back to Big Guy. It took a few more moments, and she ended up with several more bruises, but finally her battle axe found a home in his skull. Big Guy dropped like a sack of really ugly potatoes, and she pried her axe free.

Though she'd taken every one she had, there hadn't _been_ many chances to glance in Giles's direction since the fight began. But she knew he was still out. Unfortunately, unconsiousness wasn't unusual for the ex-librarian, but it still worried her.

Buffy shoved one more vampire back into an unforgiving concrete wall, and staked it on the rebound. Once the dust had cleared she took stock of the enclosed battlefield, noting that there were only two or three of the demon's blood-sucking lackeys left, along with one of the smaller demons, and that Riley and the others were well on their way to finishing the fight. The days had long passed in which she had to keep constant eye on the other Scoobies. They could take care of themselves.

Time to get to Giles.

She took running strides across the warehouse, all but sliding the last few feet as she dropped to her knees at her Watcher's side. She slapped at the cheek that seemed the least scraped and bruised. "Giles, wake up. Come on, rescue's here. Giles!"

After another try he groaned, and his eyelids fluttered—but only fluttered, at first, as if he were having trouble keeping them up. "Buffy?"

"Right here, Giles."

Finally his eyes decided to stay open of their own accord, and he sluggishly focused on her. "Oh...of course. Of course you're here." His voice was weak, barely there, and she felt herself start to panic. That couldn't be good. She quickly reached behind him and untied him. She did it carefully, making sure not to hurt him even thoiugh all she wanted to do was rip them away and get him out of here _now_.

"Giles, can you still hear me? I'm gonna get you out of here, okay? We'll get you to the hospital. You'll be fine." He didn't say anything until she gently pulled one of his good arm over her shoulders and started to stand, and then it wasn't so much words as pathetically quiet shouts of pain. Buffy couldn't bear to hear it, and she quickly and carefully knelt again, lowering him back to the ground where he could lean against the beam once more.

"Oh god! I'm sorry, I'm sorry...Do I need to find something to use as a stretcher, or what? Tell me what to do. How bad is it? Should—"

A surprisingly strong grip on her arm shut her up, and Buffy looked up at first, but then realized that no-one else had made it over here yet. It was Giles himself trying to get her attention.

"Buffy..."

She looked at him, and his eyes were almost wide, as if he'd only just now realized something. He was trying to speak, but his breath was coming short.

"Buffy, you—"

She swallowed, resting a hand on his uninjured shoulder and squeezing in an attempt to calm him down. "Hey, take it easy," she told him urgently. "Look, nevermind. Just relax. One of us'll call 911. The vampires'll be gone by the time an ambulance gets here, and we'll move the demon bodies; we can do this the normal-person way. You don't have to try to talk. Just hang on..."

Giles shook his head, his grip on her arm loosening even though it was apparent he was trying to keep it strong.

He was failing miserably. As it was, just the shake of his head was enough to unbalance him, and Buffy caught him as he slipped away from the beam at his back. He cried out again and she wrapped her arms gently around him and held him close against her shoulder, hoping it was enough comfort to at least do a little bit of good. "Giles, it's okay. It's over."

Whatever _it_ was. She didn't know exactly what the demon and his minions had done to her Watcher, and most of her really didn't _want_ to know. She knew he was hurt, and he needed help. That was enough.

He shuddered in her arms, and then went still except for the labored breathing that wasn't making her feel any better.

"Buffy, you...you know I'm...very proud of you," Giles whispered after a moment.

She swallowed and glanced down at him. "Yeah...of course I know that."

"And that I...care very much...about you and-and the others."

Her grip on him tightened involuntarily, and he gasped.

"Sorry! I—" Buffy loosened her grasp and took an uneasy breath. "Yeah. I know that too. We all know that. So just...calm down. You're...you're scaring me."

"Buffy..."

"You're going to be _fine_, Giles," she insisted.

His voice shook the next time he tried. "Buffy—"

"Giles, shut up. I _know_ this is bad, okay? I _know_ that. We just have to get you to a hospital. Willow!" She hated the panic in her voice, but she wasn't about worry much over it now. "Willow! Tara! WILL!"

In a moment the two witches were at her side, and Willow was looking Giles over with a worried look. Giles's eyes were closed now, and she wasn't even sure if he was consious."This is bad..."

"So do something," Buffy demanded. "I know you can't just...make people all better, or anything, but can't you do _something_? Do enough to help? You have to do something." Her voice became suddenly very small—an automatic reaction that came from being unwilling to admit what she had to say next. "I think we're losing him."

Willow swallowed hard. "We'll try."

Tara winced. "Willow, I'm not sure we can do anything..."

"We have to try," Willow said urgently, and reached for her girlfriend's hand.

Tara hesitated. "It's dangerous. You know that, right?"

Willow nodded once. "I know...but please. I have to at least try, and I can't do this without you."

"Please," Buffy pleaded. With Giles against her shoulder she could feel his breathing slowing and his pulse weakening, and she knew there wasn't much time. She didn't know if it was the blood loss or whatever other damage his captors had caused along with the shoulder wound, or a combination, but part of her knew it was enough—or it would be if Willow and Tara couldn't do anything.

The rest of her was saying that having the two witches over here at all was only a precaution.

Giles would be fine.

He had to be fine.

Tara nodded, finally—though it had only been a second or two, really—and took Willow's hand. After a moment a soft glow encircled their joined hands, and they spread their free hands and held them over Giles's chest. The glow traveled there and seemed to hover over him. Willow and Tara's eyes were closed tightly, concentrating, but Buffy had no way of knowing if their efforts were having any effect.

Willow's face bunched, became frustrated, until finally she and Tara opened their eyes and the two looked at each other and then at Buffy in dismay.

"It's not working," Willow swallowed.

Tara answered, as if reading Willow's mind. "It's not your fault," she said quietly, sadly. "It's just...it's too late."

"No!" Willow cried.

"That can't be right," Buffy added desperately. "There has to be something you can—"

She hadn't realized the hand on her arm was still there until it moved, making a barely present attempt to squeeze again. Buffy looked down quickly, and saw that Giles had opened his eyes. They looked a little glazed, but they were there. He looked at Willow and Tara first, almost as if to say _it's all right; you tried. _Then his gaze shifted up, and Buffy realized that the last demon was dead and the vampires were gone, and Xander had run over only to stop in his tracks a few feet away, staring.

Anya and Riley weren't far behind him, but they didn't come any closer than he did. When Riley realized what was going on he pulled his cell phone from his pocket and raced outside to use it.

At Xander's side, the crossbow he'd used hung limply from his hand. "Giles?" he asked weakly. "G-man?"

Buffy thought she saw a ghost of a smile flicker across her Watcher's face, and then he was looking at her. She looked back, and reached up and squeezed the hand on her arm. "Giles, come on...we need you. Stay with us here, okay?"

But his eyes had already closed again, and she felt him go still.

Completely still.

There was silence for a moment, and then the crossbow clattered to the floor. Buffy heard Xander take two quick steps forward. "Giles?" he questioned, more urgently now. From the corner of her eye she Anya move to his side and silently wrap an arm around one of his in support. He looked like he might drop.

Willow's head was shaking. "No. No no no no...." Tara pulled her into her arms, and the small redhead cried.

Buffy didn't move. She couldn't move. She couldn't blink, or breathe, or anything else. She couldn't think. After another moment or so she was able to look around. She saw what was happening around her, but was only vaguely aware of it all. The only thing she was really aware of was the still-warm weight of her Watcher in her arms.

Giles. Giles was—

Xander went down. Slowly. He let out a sound that sounded like something between a gasp and a sob, took the last two steps to Willow's side and sank to his knees, between Willow and Buffy. Anya was still standing where he'd been a moment before, and seemed uncertain what to do.

That was when Riley hurried back inside. "An ambulance is on it's...way..." He stopped, physically as well as verbally, and cursed quietly. Buffy would have cursed if she could form coherent thought. Though she wasn't sure what she would have cursed. She would have settled for anything, really, if only she could think. If only this weren't happening.

It _couldn't_ be happening. It couldn't. Everything had been fine ten minutes ago. The fight had gone well. No one else was hurt. This was supposed to be the part where they all laughed it off and went home...

The world faded out for a while, and when it somewhat reasserted itself not much had changed. But demon bodies were gone, and Willow was leaning on Xander instead of Tara. One of Xander's hands was on Buffy's shoulder, and Anya and Tara were across at one of the side doors, helping Riley drag out the last dead demon, the big one.

And Giles was still in her arms, and he was still—

The world fuzzed out again. This time Buffy didn't come back until Xander's comforting hand was gone and another replaced it. She looked up and everyone was standing, and they had all backed away. It was Riley touching her now, and just behind him were two coroners.

"Buffy..." he said quietly.

But Riley had called an ambulance. Maybe these were the ambulance people, or the ambulance people had called these people. She didn't know how it worked, and she didn't care.

They were here to take Giles.

She moved, because she had to. It was what she was expected to do. But before she let him go Buffy gained enough self-realization to softly kiss his forehead.

It was cold.

The strange men took him, and Buffy jerked back into Riley's arms as if she'd been slapped.

It was cold. Giles's forehead was cold. _He_ was cold. His...his body was cold.

Giles was dead.

Xander with Anya, Willow with Tara, Buffy with Riley...she didn't think any of them watched as the body bag was zipped and rolled from the warehouse on the stretcher. Willow hiccupped softly once in a while, her face pink from crying, and Tara held her tightly. Xander's eyes were damp, and as soon as the men were gone he scrubbed at his face to cover the tear he thought they didn't see fall. After a moment he started to steer Anya toward the opposite door. She followed, clinging to his arm again.

Tara glanced at Riley, and he nodded for them to follow Xander and Anya.

"Yeah, I know...I'm driving. Go on; we'll be there in minute," he said quietly.

Tara nodded back, and gently pulled Willow with her as she headed for the exit.

When they were gone Riley looked at her. "Buffy?"

Buffy thought about answering—giving some cliché platitude, telling him she would be al right, eventually, saying something to keep him from worrying too much. She even opened her mouth, but she caught a glimpse of something on the ground by the support beam, and she stumbled away from him without saying anything.

"Buffy?" he repeated worriedly.

She knelt down to pick up what lay there, and for a long moment she turned the glasses over in her hands. Surprisingly, they were unbroken, and she carefully folded the arms in. She would have to give them back to—

No. She couldn't give them back to anyone at all. There was no one to give them back to.

Giles was gone, and he wasn't coming back.

Buffy sobbed once, and held the glasses to her chest. After a moment more sobs came, and the tears came. She found herself doubled over from the force of it all, shaking as she cried. She sensed Riley crouch down beside her, and felt him wrap his arms around her and tuck her head under his chin.

But it didn't help at all.

* * *

When Buffy began to sob, even in her unconsious state, Giles's throat clogged. He couldn't possibly know just which nightmare had taken form in her mind, but he knew her well enough to know that, whatever it was, he would do anything if he could only bring her out of it.

Rupert hated to feel helpless, but that was what he was now. He could only hope that the other Scoobies found them—soon.

Not much could make Buffy cry. That much he knew. He shuddered to think that maybe whatever she dreamt now had something to do with Angelus, or the Master, but unfortunately they seemed the most likely candidates.

Then her head began to shake back and forth forcefully in her sleep. "No...no," she sobbed.

Giles tried to move again, grimaced again, and it was still useless. "Buffy?"

It didn't reach her, and what she cried next made him freeze.

"Giles no..."

He blinked quickly to keep his eyes clear, and swallowed hard. "Buffy..."


	6. Chapter 6

Sorry this one took a little longer, but school finally got really started again, after break, and I was busy acclimating. I'm all done with that now, lol. so there shouldn't ever be too long between chapters. I'm still looking forward to getting reviews from you all though, so please help me out and let me know what you think! Thanks so much!

Chapter 6

There were six of them in Riley's SUV, but none of them seemed to know what to do next. When Buffy had calmed enough to stand, Riley had led her out to the vehicle, where Xander and Anya and Willow and Tara had waited silently. There hadn't been anything but the silence until they were out on the road, and the only break in it had been Riley's question, asked only once, and quietly.

"Where are we headed?"

No one answered.

Ten minutes later Buffy realized Riley had taken them to her house, and suddenly, looking at it, the world was real again.

It was real, and it hurt so much she could barely breathe.

It was all real. Giles was dead.

Buffy pushed her door open and nearly fell out of the vehicle, while the others climbed out around her. No one questioned the decision to come here. It was Saturday, and Joyce Summers would be inside. Without Giles, Joyce was the only comforting parental figure any of them really had anymore. It made sense to be here now.

That, and she had to be told what had happened.

Buffy headed up the walk alone, planning to break the news to her mother before the others came in, but when she'd made it up the steps to the porch Joyce opened the door from inside. She must have heard the SUV pull up. Buffy stopped, and Joyce looked at her for a moment, and then looked over her shoulder at the others back by the vehicle. Her face folded into a concerned frown almost immediately.

"Buffy? What's wrong? What's going on? Why are all of you...?"

She trailed off, uncertain. Buffy opened her mouth to say something, to explain, even as much as she didn't want to...but nothing came out.

"Mom," she choked.

Then Riley was at her side, and Joyce was ushering all six of them into the house. Riley steered Buffy to the couch and sat her securely on one end of it, and Willow and Tara and Xander filled in around her. Willow was at her side with Tara next to her, and Xander was on the arm of the couch. Anya stood by him, still looking more than a little lost. Buffy started to protest, to get up and talk to her mother, because...she was the Slayer. She was supposed to be in charge. She was supposed to take on the hard things.

But with his hands on her shoulders Riley looked at her for a moment, firmly, and she stayed put, thankful. She let Willow and Xander move in closer and welcomed the comfort from her friends while Riley pulled Ms. Summers back into the entryway to answer her questions. Buffy knew he would give her the news gently. She trusted him.

She still didn't want to see it. Buffy screwed her eyes tightly shut and sunk back into the couch, pulling her legs up to her chest and leaning into Xander as Willow's head rested on her shoulder. One of her arms went around the young witch that was her best friend, and she felt Xander reach down to take her other hand. Buffy squeezed in thanks.

When she dared to open her eyes again, Joyce and Riley were moving slowly into the living room, the young man following her pace and keeping a gentle hand at her back for support. Buffy's mother had one arm wrapped tightly around herself, and the other covered her mouth. Tears were gathering in her eyes when she met her daughter's gaze. Quietly she came to the couch, and as it was full and Buffy's hands were taken she sat on the coffee table and gripped the Slayer's knee.

"Oh, Buffy, I...I'm so sorry." Her gaze wandered to the rest of them for a moment. "All of you. I-if there's anything I can..."

Buffy freed her hand from Xanders to take her mother's. "Thanks, Mom," she whispered.

But she wouldn't ask for anything. Not now. What would she ask for? Nothing would fix this, and she knew Joyce had to be hurting, too.

Silence descended on the room—something that had become quite normal in Buffy's life over the past half hour.

"Well what now?" Anya asked suddenly. They all looked at her.

"Sweetie?" Xander asked.

She continued as if he hadn't spoken. "I mean...we have to do something. There has to be something to be done. Giles can't just be _gone_, that's...that's stupid. With everything this group gets into on a daily basis that can't just be it, right? So what's next? What do we do? I want Giles back."

Willow sobbed once, and Tara winced. Joyce and Riley looked away. Buffy just stared at the ex-vengance demon.

Xander took a deep breath. "Anya, honey...we're all human here. When we're...gone, we're...gone." It was clear that it took a lot out of him to say it, but there it was. The truth. Giles was gone, and...life wasn't going to just stop.

Anya took a step back when her significant other reached for her, and crossed her arms tightly as she blinked back tears. No one said anything until she spoke again, and her words summed up Buffy's thoughts.

"Then...what now?" she repeated.

After a moment Willow hiccuped again, but then she sat up and took a deep breath. "Someone should call the Watchers' Council."

Xander frowned. "But he doesn't—I mean he...didn't..." He stopped before he could lose control.

Willow nodded. "I know. But I think they should, you know...know. And it's the only number in England any of us know, so...it's probably the only way we'd be able to find out if there's anyone else over there who should...know."

At the look her friend's face Buffy started to sit up, "Will, I can—"

"No. It's okay. I'll do it." Willow gave her something that wasn't quite a smile. "After all, you don't like them, and they don't like you, and this'll require a bit of diplomacy."

"I can be diplomatic..."

"By a bulldog's interrpretation, Buff," Xander clarified. She looked at him, and he was smiling, a little—taking any chance to not feel as horrible as she knew they all did. Buffy did her best to smile back, and glanced back at Willow to relent.

"Okay."

Willow nodded and got to her feet. Tara moved as if to go with her, but she shook her head and went out to the kitchen alone.

Riley moved to sit beside Buffy in her friend's absense. "Someone'll have to go to the hospital...to the morgue," he added apologetically.

Xander sighed. "Yeah. Somebody has to uh...hear what they have to say, and sign forms and...whatever the hell else is supposed to be done."

Joyce nodded slowly. "And uhm...I should probably go with whoever does that." Her being the real adult in this situation. That was sensible.

Buffy nodded, too. "I'll go."

"I'll drive," Riley offered. Not that he had much choice. He was the way they'd all gotten here, but for Joyce. Still, she could see that he _wanted_ to help, and that meant a lot.

Xander protested. "What about the rest of us?"

"You don't all have to come if you don't want to," Buffy told him.

He glanced at Anya, and at Tara, and there seemed to be some kind of silent communication there before he spoke again. "I think we should. I think we should all go."

Buffy looked at him for a moment, and then she nodded. "Yeah." She felt her mother squeeze her hand again, and she swallowed back a sob.

_Why? Why is this happening at all? Damnit, Giles..._

"We should see what Willow finds out, though," she added.

That was when the shouting started in the next room. They all looked up in surprise, and Buffy strained to hear what was being said. She couldn't make it all out, until Willow started cursing. There were several words she didn't know her friend knew. So much fir that diplomacy.

And after all that, Willow paused as if to listen and then finished with something rather tame compared to what else she'd been saying.

"Well fine! You take your _pompous_, uncaring, British _egghead _and shove it somewhere decidedly unpleasant, if you don't mind my saying so—though I really don't give a crap whether you do or not!" Another pause. "Same to you!" Then there was a bang as the phone was slapped back onto it's hook, and Willow stormed into the living room.

"Willow?" Tara asked.

"Will?" Buffy and Xander questioned together. Riley started to move from the spot she'd been in before heading for the phone, but the young witch waved at him to stay, and, still fuming, answered.

"They're horrible. All of them. They're all assholes."

"Will, what happened?" Buffy asked.

Willow swallowed, and though her face was red the tears in her eyes were long gone, replaced by the fury. "They don't care! Sure, they let me talk to Quentin Travers himself, but the guy just brushed it off. 'Oh, I'm very sorry, but I don't see why you bothered us here about it.' God! I wanted to reach through the phone and strangle him! Tara, we need to figure out how to send spells through phone lines. Seriously. I wanna fry him."

Tara blinked rapidly. "Willow, I don't think—"

"I'm kidding," she answered miserably. "I'm kidding, I just...god..." She ended up on the coffee table beside Joyce, who sgave her shoulders a squeeze. Willow gave her a grateful glance and sighed heavily.

Buffy grimaced. "Why does none of that surprise me?"

Willow snorted. "That's not even the half of it. He took the opportunity to try to tell me I should convince you to work with the council again—let them, you know, send a...a..."

"I get the picture," Buffy answered quickly. _A Watcher. Like I would ever trust them again. Of all the nerve. _While none of it _was_ a surprise at all, it still made her angry, and even though that hurt too, it did seem to help a little.

Willow nodded once. "That's when I told him to shove it."

"Good work," Xander said approvingly.

"Thanks."

Joyce nodded too, though she wasn't quite as clear on the ins and out of the Watchers' Council as the rest of them. After a moment Ms. Summers looked at Willow again. "Did you find out if..."

The young witch took a deep breath. "Yeah. I did manage to get that out of him. There's uh...no family at all, and...Giles did have a few arrangements, nothing fancy, but it was all through the council, and since they fired him that's all gone, so...we're on our own on this."

Buffy grimaced. "I hate the idea of going through any of his stuff, but if he got any other form of insurance or anything, we have to find that info. We'll need money for..." She couldn't bring herself to say funeral, or burial, or anything in relation. "And that'll have to come from somewhere."

"I'm afraid there might be a lot that will need to be done. I'll do whatever I can," Joyce said quietly. "Whether it's money, or just helping you figure all this out."

"I know you will, Mom."

"Thanks, Joyce," Willow sighed. Tara echoed her.

Xander nodded. "You're the best."

Buffy swallowed. It was true. She _did_ have the best mom she could have hoped for.

But she felt like she'd just lost a father.

* * *

Sometimes Buffy was silent, and sometimes she wasn't. Sometimes she muttered things he couldn't quite understand, and other times she cried. Giles didn't know how long it had been, but already it seemed like forever. He still wasn't certain of what she'd meant, when she spoke that first time in her sleep, but he knew she was hurting. He didn't know much much more of it he could take.

Sohlehk was watching Buffy, as was Dagkel, and that they both seemed to be enjoying every moment of her distress only made Giles angrier. It killed him that he could do nothing about it but sit here and silently fume. Even if he wasn't tied up, the blood loss was getting to him. He wouldn't have been able to do much, even free. It was becoming harder and harder to stay awake.

Rupert had settled for glaring steadily at the demons' back when Dagkel abruptly broke away from Sohlehk and skittered back to him, wheezing out that strange laugh of his under his breath.

"It could have been any amount of time for her in there," the lizard-like demon hissed in delight. "She could have experienced anything already. The way Sohlehk's power works, the nightmare can do anything it wants. She could be living in a world where everything's gone wrong, or she could experience one horrible moment over and over and over...She'll suffer for what will seem like an eternity to her."

With the demon close at his side, there was no way to lash out at it with his legs. There was no way to do anything. He didn't have the strength to sit up enough to headbut the thing, which would be about his only option.

So Giles ignored Dagkel, refusing to give the demon any kind of satisfaction at all, and focused on Buffy again. He found himself sending out thoughts—some to her, and some to...anything. Perhaps they were prayers. That seemed almost absurd, but he had nothing else.

* * *

For Buffy several days seemed to go by in a gray, painful blur. Giles was a meticulous file keeper, even in his jobless state, and it didn't take long to find everything of any importance. He'd had a life insurance policy—something rather important, on a hellmouth—which covered most of the expenses, and Joyce made it clear that she planned to chip in with whatever else was needed. Then they found the will.

It hadn't been updated since early during the original Scooby Gang's junior year of high school, but there it was.

He'd left everything he had to Buffy, Willow, and Xander.

They didn't think it would be much—just the things in his apartment, which was still much more than they'd expected—but then they discovered how he'd seemed fine, financially, even after more than a year with no employment. They'd all suspected, at one time or another, that he must have simply been good about saving what he could of whatever salaries the Watchers' Council and school district had given him, but they didn't expect the amount that was still there in his accounts.

The three of them used it to cover the rest of the funeral expenses, and then they chipped in together and bought the apartment outright. Buffy was sure it was one of the easiest decisions they'd ever made together; there wasn't much talking to be done about it. They just couldn't let the place go. Where else would they have put Giles's things anyway? It all stayed right where it was.

Nine days after the disaster at the warehouse, they buried Giles there in Sunnydale, beside Jennifer Calendar. Buffy hoped they were together, somewhere. After everything Rupert Giles had been through, he deserved that much.

The service was simple, reverent, personal. It was only the seven of them—the Scoobies plus Joyce—besides the reverend who officiated. Willow had volunteered to go through Giles's address book in search of any old friends that might need to know, who might be able to come, but of the very few that could be reached, none were able to make it. They sent their condolences. At least in that, they were kinder than the council, but what was really said by the fact that none of them came?

It surprised Buffy how much it hurt, even though it wasn't her none of them cared enough about.

At the service Buffy, Xander, and Willow stood together, supporting each other as if siblings who had lost a beloved parent. In all the ways that mattered, that was true anyway. The others were there, just over their shoulders, and they were all glad to have them there, but for the original Scoobies it was about each other—and about Giles.

They'd decided that they should spend the time after the funeral together, just the three of them. After the service they said their goodbyes for the night to their significant others, and they left together in Xander's parents' car.

With nowhere else to go, really, they ended up at they apartment that was now, technically, theirs. With Willow and Buffy on the couch and Xander in the closest chair, it was a long time before any of them said anything.

"So I guess this'll still be home base, huh? For the Scooby Gang?" Xander asked eventually.

Buffy looked around forlornly. "Yeah...I guess. I mean, everything we need is here. All of Giles's books, his weapons..."

She squinted at something in a corner and added, "Half of _my_ weapons that never made it home, too." In the past year, with no Sunnydale High Library, this place had become, as Xander had just said, home base, as well a dumping ground of sorts for all things Slayer-related. She supposed that would remain true, since they were keeping the place anyway.

Willow swallowed. "Good...I uh...good."

They sat in silence again, until finally Xander stood up quickly. "That's it."

Buffy blinked and looked up. "That's...what?"

"Look, yeah, we just came from a funeral. One none of us ever wanted to have to go to. But we can't just...I mean, we've done enough of this sitting around awkwardly in the last week and half."

"I know..." Willow trailed.

Buffy's hands gripped the edge of the couch cushion she was sitting on tightly. "Xand...what else do you want us to do? What are we _supposed_ to do?"

At that he stared at the floor. "I'm uh...I'm not really sure about that one yet."

"See? You don't know. _I_ don't know. What _are_ we supposed to do? What am _I_ supposed to do? What—" Tears pricked at her eyes again, and her throat suddenly threated to close. "He was supposed to be here. He was supposed to help me...help me find out what I am, where I'm supposed to go from here, after everything last year...but now he's gone."

Willow put an arm around her. "We still have each other, Buffy. Maybe _we_ can you with that stuff. I think we've both developed some mean research skill after all these years."

Xander's eyebrows went up as if he had a sudden idea, and he moved around the couch to Giles's desk, where he dug for a moment until he came up with two or three books that Buffy recognized easily.

They were Giles's journals. She'd never seen what was in them, but she'd seen him with them often enough to know they were his, and not the older volumes written by previous Watchers.

"Hey...look," Xander said needlessly.

"What about them?" Buffy asked tiredly.

He shrugged. "Well...I'm thinking now that Giles isn't here, he'd _want_ you to see these. And hey...there's probably plenty in here about how awesome he thought you were," Xander smiled. "You know...something to get you going. Like Willow said, we've got a lot of work to do if we're gonna pull of a Giles-job without Giles. And who knows? Maybe we'll get the bonus of a few humorous anecdotes."

Buffy smiled a bit. "You think he ever actually wrote down anything 'humorous?'"

Xander came to the couch with the books and shouldered both girls until they made room between them for him to sit down. "One way to find out."

Having her friends...it didn't completely fill the emptiness in her heart—after all, she'd always had all _three_ of them, Giles and Willow and Xander, where now there were only two—but it was something.

She hoped it would be enough of something.

* * *

Xander pushed open the door of the apartment and saw Anya at the counter, nearly asleep with her head in her arms. At the noise he and Riley made coming in, her head popped up and she hopped off of the stool eagerly and into her lover's embrace. "Xander! Thank god. I'm bored to tears here. Do we know where Giles is yet?"

"Not so much," he sighed.

Riley nodded in confirmation. "We're just checking in. Have you heard anything from Buffy?"

"I would have called that cell phone of yours if I had." She looked at Xander, arms crossed. "Why don't _we_ have phones?"

"Because a construction worker doesn't make enough money for cell phones, Anya."

"Then make more money. If everyone had cell phones, we wouldn't need for someone like_ me_ to sit here by this phone all night dying of boredom."

Xander dropped into a chair at the table. "Yeah, I'll get right on that."

That was when a knock came on the door that had only been closed a moment before. Xander looked up as Riley opened it, and saw the immediate frown on the other young man's face before he registered who it was that had knocked.

"It's you," Riley said, voice dripping antagonism.

Xander, for his part, was staring. "Angel?"


	7. Chapter 7

Here you go, ya'll. :) _Please_ do review if you haven't and continue to review if you have. It helps so much to know people actually care! LOL. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter, and thank you so much! (Just for those that I know wanted it, there's a bit more Spike here. There can be more if you want it! Angel too. He's also been included on request, and it was easy enough to concoct a reason, so...Just let me know what you think! About that _and _the rest of the chapter. Hint hint. lol. )

Chapter 7

Riley looked like he wanted to stand his ground, but Angel was having none of it—if he even noticed. The vampire, who had been invited into Giles's home before and had nothing hindering him, brushed into the apartment and glanced around quickly, before scowling.

"What are you three doing here? Where the hell is Giles?"

Xander stood, frowning in confusion. "That's what _we'd_ love to know. That and what _you're_ doing _here_."

"Cordy had a vision. She saw both Buffy _and_ Giles in some serious trouble, and she's pretty sure she saw Giles end up dead." Angel gave the apartment another once-over, as if he expected the Watcher to materialize out of nowhere. "Damnit...they're already missing, aren't they?"

Riley crossed his arms. "No, Giles is the only one missing. Buffy's fine. She's patroling Docktown."

Xander nodded. "Willow and Tara are out looking too, and so were Riley and me; we were just checking in here. Now you said _Buffy_ was in trouble in this vision?"

Angel nodded once. "Yeah. She could be in trouble right _now_; you just said she's out there alone, didn't you?"

"Crap..."

Anya came closer, looking troubled. "And Giles. He said Giles was in trouble—that Cordelia saw him die. What if he's already dead?"

"He's _not_ dead!" Xander countered quickly, because he had to. He couldn't believe anything else. "Giles will be fine, and so will Buffy. If she _is_ in trouble, we just have to find her—both of them."

Riley still didn't look very happy at all that Angel was present, but his first priority would always be Buffy. "Okay, fine. I agree. But how are we supposed to do that when we don't even know where Giles is?"

"They'll be in the same place," Angel supplied. "And Cordelia gave me enough details to give us a start. Docktown sounds like the kind of place we'd find what she described to me, so it shouldn't be too hard." The door was still open, and he glanced back out it at the darkness. "We'd better get moving. I won't be of a lot of use for much longer."

Xander wasted no time in standing up again and pushing the chair into the table. "Okay, see, I know I've heard about it before, but I'm still having trouble with the whole Cordy-has-visions-now thing..."

Angel turned as if to head out first, but Riley had already flung the door open and gone on. "There'll be time for ranting later," Angel deadpanned before he followed. "Let's go."

"Right," Xander muttered. "Anya..."

"I know, I know," she sighed, dropping back onto her stool. "I stay here."

"I just don't want you to get hurt. You know, that, and we could always use someone at this phone just in case.

"Uh huh," she muttered, arms crossed. She looked at him for a moment, and then held out both hands. He went to her and kissed her, and she sighed. "Be careful. I'd be a very bored ex-demon if anything happened to you."

* * *

As late as it was, Willow wasn't in the dorm room when Buffy returned from patroling. It wasn't anything to be concerned about; Buffy wasn't sure exactly how much keeping-herself-distracted Willow had done before school started, but now that summer was over and they were living in the same room again, it was becoming obvious that her friend was trying to do just as much keeping busy as Buffy was herself.

She took the UC Sunnydale course catalog from her desk and sat crossed-legged on her bed, flipping through it because she didn't think she could sleep yet. Sleeping was hard these days.

Doing anything was hard these days.

Willow showed twenty minutes or so later, probably coming from Tara's room or the library, and though she didn't seem surprised to find her roommate awake, she did seem curious about the catalog.

"Hey...whatcha doing?" She sat on the end of Buffy's bed and set her bag on the floor, and Buffy shrugged withpout really looking up.

"I'm thinking about adding a class or two before the deadline."

"Adding?" Willow asked. "But wouldn't that be too much what with the slaying and stuff?"

Buffy snorted. "I wish. No...I think it'd be just enough." When she finally did look up her friend was staring at her in confused concern, and after a moment she relented and elaborated.

"Half of the time taken up by the slaying job is usually the training, Will, and I don't have anyone to train with but myself," she said quietly. "That means training takes up considerably less time—not enough time." She shrugged. "That leaves free time, and I want less of it."

Because free time meant thinking, and thinking meant pain.

"Buffy...I'm not sure making yourself overly busy is a healthy way to..." Willow trailed off when Buffy skewered her with a look. "But uh...I guess I'm kind of doing it too, aren't I?"

Buffy only shrugged facialy this time, in confirmation, and Willow sighed heavily.

"Yeah."

They sat in silence until Buffy held out the course catalog, and Willow took it after only a moment's hesitation. The young witch pulled it onto her lap and started flipping pages. "Again...yeah. Hey, I'll just...find something we can both take..."

Buffy stood and crossed to her closet to pull her weapons bag out again. She looked them over until she decided that wasn't what she wanted to do. She put the bag back and went ot her desk to shoulder her purse—which always had a stake in it anyway. "You can do that. I don't think I'm sleeping tonight; I'm going back out."

"Patroling again?"

She paused, and then lied. "Yeah."

Willow moved to her own bed with the catalog, and glanced up briefly. "Bring me back a mocha. I'll still be awake," she said, resigned.

"Even if I'm not back until morning?"

"_Especially_ if you're not back until morning. I'll need the sugar to stay awake in class tomorrow."

Buffy nodded in agreement, and decided she'd get one for herself as well. Even if nothing else was very bright in her life anymore, she could still overdose on sugar with her best friend. "Okay."

As she left, Buffy supposed she hadn't lied completely. She _was_ headed for the cemetary, and if she happened across a vampire she'd gladly stake it. But dusting vamps and avoiding sleeping and nightmares weren't her sole reasons for going.

The dark, cloudy fall night was cool enough that she shivered on occasion, but not so cold that she necessarily regretted not bringing a heavier jacket. No, now that she thought about it the weather seemed to fit her mood perfectly. She was still much more lost in those thoughts than she wanted to be when she realized she'd already reached her destination. Not that she had ever wanted this particular spot to exist in the first place.

Buffy dropped her purse where it was out of the way but easily reachable should she need her stake later, and knelt beside the silent gray headstone. She hadn't been here often in the month or so since it had been put in place...it just hurt too much. But something in her needed to be here now.

"I uh...killed a demon yesterday," she began slowly. "Or_ we_ did. The gang helped, like they always do. After the first attack we spent two days straight at your place searching the books for the thing, so we'd know where to look for it, and how to kill it and all." She smiled to herself a little. "Yeah, I actually helped with the research. What does _that_ tell you about how I'm doing?"

The smile quickly dissolved, and Buffy contemplaed whether or not she was crazy for doing this. She found that she didn't care. The past day or so, especially, had been hard, and there was a reason. She needed to get it out, even if there wasn't really anyone to listen.

Though she hoped that, maybe, somehow, Giles could hear her.

"It was just like old times—the research and the junk food. Some of the demons in the books looked kinda funny, and there were jokes, some laughing. It...it seemed so normal there for a little while that Xander asked you if you wanted the last jelly doughnut before we all remembered that you weren't there—"

She stopped abruptly when her voice caught, and she swallowed back the lump forming in her throat. "Giles, I can't—isn't it supposed to get easier? How long does it take? I patrol, and I dust vampires, and I kill demons, and I go to school, and the gang and I try to hang out, and it doesn't help. None of it. I mean...sure, we're getting by. I'm still the Slayer. I can still fight. Sunnydale is still as safe as it's ever going to be, I guess, and...I guess that makes me realize that maybe you weren't _all_ wrong. Maybe we would have been fine here, if you'd gone back to England, but..."

Buffy had to close her eyes to keep the tears back, and her hands balled into fists where they rested on her knees.

"But what does fine mean if we can't be _more_ than fine? Maybe you were right—maybe I didn't need you anymore, as the Slayer. Or maybe I did. But what does any of that matter? Whether the Slayer needed you or not, _I _needed you." She gave up, opening her eyes and letting the tears slip down her cheeks.

"I still needed you, Giles," she whispered as her shoulders shook. "I miss you."

Buffy let herself sob, because since that first day she had held it all back, for the most part, telling herself to be strong for the others—telling herself that the pain had to get better someday. She just had to wait it out. She had to be strong. She had to be the Slayer. After all, Sunnydale couldn't be safe if its protector sat around feeling sorry for herself.

But she'd already patroled tonight, and none of her friends were here. She couldn't bottle it in anymore, and right now there was no reason to.

Buffy cried, and ran a hand over the words they'd finally settled on, for the stone—two lines under the name and dates:

"_Our father though he wasn't,_

_he Watched over us all." _

It was all only the truth, homage to the paternal love they'd known he had not only for Buffy, but for all of the Scoobies...no matter how British he was about the small ways he showed it. And no one but those who knew the secret of the Slayer would ever understand the true meaning of the capitalization of the word _Watched—_the honor to the sacred duty Rupert Giles had held true to even after being officially stripped of his responsibility.

Giles would always be her Watcher. Buffy had already sworn to herself that she would never have another.

"Is that the best you've got?"

Her sobs drew to an abrupt halt, and Buffy didn't realize her eyes had closed again until they snapped open at the voice. It came from behind her, and the British accent was unmistakable. _What—_

"I mean, really—gone for a month after all those years of teaching you everything you know and putting my life on the line for you, and all you can say is 'I miss you'? Give a pithy line about 'needing me'?"

She stood and spun, and there he was. There_ it_ was. It _had_ to be an it because it couldn't—

"Giles?" she squeaked.

* * *

After the call from Xander via Riley's cell phone, Willow and Tara made their way back to Sunnydale's main street and waited at the corner where the Expresso Pump stood. Moments after they arrived Riley's SUV pulled up to the curb and Xander rolled down the passenger side window.

"Get in," he said needlessly.

"What's going on? You know I don't like it when people are all cryptic on the phone," Willow complained as she opened one of the back doors. "I—whoa!" She bumped into Tara as she jerked back, surprised by the unexpected passenger in the middle seat.

"Hey, Willow."

"Angel...yeah. Hey." She pulled back to give Xander a look through the open window. "What?"

He shrugged, but his usual grin only appeared as a small shadow if itself. "Sorry. That was fun. We'll explain on the way; we've gotta head toward Docktown." Willow wanted to glare at him for the scare, but after seeing the looks on his and Riley's faces she didn't have the heart to. She climbed in beside Angel, and Tara got in after her and shut the door.

"Sorry—you know how he is," Angel apologized.

"No big. Long time no see, too, by the way."

The ensouled vampire shrugged, his mouth pressing into a fine line for a moment before he answered. Then he explained about Cordelia's vision, and Riley filled her and Tara in on their fear that Buffy was already in trouble as well.

"Oh god," Willow murmured.

"What the plan?" Tara asked.

Xander's eyebrows were up when he looked back at them. "As of right now? Cruise Docktown for anything that looks like the place Cordy saw and hope like hell we find the right place to storm before anything happens to Giles _or_ Buffy."

Willow crossed her arms uneasily. "Guess that's about as good as it's gonna get, huh?"

* * *

He wore the suit he'd been buried in, there were no glasses—which made sense, because she'd kept them—and the first, horrifying thought that crossed Buffy's mind was that one of the vampires had made Giles drink their blood before he died, when she hadn't consious to see it.

But he'd been able to talk. He would have warned her of what she would have to do. He would have made certain she kept him from rising in the first place. He wouldn't have let it happen.

This wasn't a vampire.

"No, not a vampire," whatever-it-was-that-couldn't-be-Giles said then, as if reading her mind. "Not a shapeshifter or anything of that sort, either. Just me." The figure swung an arm out absently, letting a hand pass harmlessly through one of the closest headstones for emphasis.

Incorporeal, then.

But not Giles. It couldn't be.

"I'm a ghost, Buffy. It does happen. I know much if what you usually deal with is much more physical, but ghosts do exist." He gestured to himself. "Case in point."

She took an unsteady breath, realizing she was frozen where she stood. Not literally or supernaturally or anything, just in the human, confused, scared-out-of-your-wits way, which didn't happen to her very often. She hated it.

"Y-you're not—"

"Of course I am. What? You're not happy to see me?"

It looked like Giles, and it spoke more or less like Giles, but the attitude alone was enough to tell her it wasn't him. Not even a ghost of him.

Right? It couldn't be him. He wouldn't act like this.

"Who or what are you really and what the hell do you want?" Buffy demanded, angrily scrubbing the tear streaks from her face.

"There's unfinished business. Isn't that usually what holds a spirit to this world?"

"You're not a spirit, and if you are you're _not_ Giles. Tell me what you want or _get away from me_," she spat. It didn't say anything for a moment, and instead of waiting longer she scooped up her purse, spun on her heel and started walking quickly away, hoping that maybe she was only hallucinating. That it was just disappear if she ignored it.

It wasn't Giles. It couldn't be Giles in any way, and looking at it knowing that it wasn't, hurt. Remebering that she would never really see Giles again killed her. Looking at this thing using his form to...do whatever it was trying to do, hurt. It made her angrier than she'd been in a long time.

She'd get the gang together in the morning, tell them what happened. They'd go to Giles's place and do some research. If she wasn't just going crazy, maybe it was some type of creature, or malevolent spirit, or demon—something she could fight and punish and destroy.

Buffy realized she was shaking and tried to calm herself, but it was of little use.

The fact that whatever-the-hell-it-was suddenly materialized in front of her didn't help.

She screamed in surprise and jumped back, mentally berating herself for allowing the outburst. The figure in front of her took a step closer, and she backed away as it smirked at her.

"Oh...I understand now. You think I'm not what I say I am because I'm not coddling you—treating you like a child and telling you that it's all right, and nothing was your fault. Because, being dead and such, I'm not bothering to be the benevolent figure you're used to. Did you forget my rather colorful past, Buffy? Did you forget that I wasn't always the gentleman you knew?"

He'd stopped, and Buffy stood with her fists curled tightly. "His past doesn't matter. It never mattered. It's the past. He would never...act like this... "

"Well, no, I wouldn't have, but look where _that_ approach landed me. I'm _dead_. And perhaps I could blame myself, but it seems much more prudent to blame you."

"Shut up!" The tears came again, hot on her face, and she couldn't stop them

"I'm sorry. Was that something you didn't want to hear?" The figure flickered once, but appeared otherwise solid as Giles's face glowered at her. "You never did much appreciate the truth."

"Stop it!"

He-it-whatever took another step or two. "You let me die, Buffy. You didn't find me soon enough, and I died. It's your fault. Denying it won't change that."

He advanced on her further, and Buffy wheeled back again. This time it didn't stop, and desperately she started to turn, crying again as much as she hated that, and wanting to run no matter how much good it would or wouldn't do. As she tried to flee an incorporeal hand swiped forward and through her head, disorienting her enough that she tripped over a low headstone and went down, her head striking another as she tumbled to the ground.

A moment later she was sprawled on her back, blinking around the stars she was seeing and grimacing from the sharp throbbing of her head when Giles's face appeared again, the figure bent over her and hovering close as he smirked again.

"I can't do much myself, being a ghost—no, that would require years of practice, and I've decided to be impatient. But there are other ways, and I'll find them. You can be sure of that. Did you think you would get off the hook that easily?"

Buffy's head hurt, and she couldn't think, but the her Watcher's face was so close, and seemed so real, and—

Oh god, what if she wasn't dreaming? What if it wasn't a spirit or a demon? What if Giles was still here? What if he _did_ blame her?

Then, for a moment, the smirk was gone, and it _was_ Giles looking down at her. _Her _Giles. For just a moment there was concern on his face. "You might want to get that head looked at." Then he sneered, and the spell was broken. "After all, making your life miserable would be pointless if you were too concussed to give a damn."

The image laughed darkly and faded away, leaving Buffy sobbing in the grass.

* * *

It was like watching a bloody movie. Spike only wished he'd brought popcorn.

He'd doubled back eventually, hours later, hoping Buffy was gone and he could find a little more action before the night's end, but his curiosity had gotten the better of him. Her scent had led to a warehouse even deeper in Docktown than he'd been before, and up this ladder to the window he was peering through now.

The Slayer was inside, tied to a steel post and unconsious. She kept thrashing in her sleep, muttering sometimes, though he couldn't make out much of anything from up here even with his vampire hearing. As of now she seemed more upset than he'd ever seen her. She was sobbing. He'd thought he would enjoy that, but really...it was just frightening.

Spike looked away and saw that Giles was down there too, and besides the fact that whatever was happening to Buffy was apparently causing him a great deal of distress, he looked quite the worse for wear. He was almost surprised the man was alive, from the looks of him.

Spike snorted to himself. "Well, Rupert, what have you and your little Slayer gotten yourselves into this time?"

That was when he saw the Rasjeck demon, who seemed to be in charge of the group of baddies inside. Spike realized he'd seen the big guy during the time he'd been held down in The Initiative.

Rasjeck demon.

Oh.

The seemingly nonsensical predicament Buffy was in made sense now. Rasjeck demons could trap a victim inside their own minds, dooming them to live a seemingly endless nightmare until they slowly died of starvation or exposure, depending on where the poor saps were left—or forever, if they were found and kept alive even in their vegetative state.

Spike couldn't quite reason out just what the demon and his lackeys wanted with the Slayer, but then again it didn't really matter. His life would be so much easier on with her out of the way.

But then again, he didn't really want anyone to kill her until he could find a way to get this blasted chip out and do it himself.

Though that might never happen, as much as he hated to think about it.

But why deprive himself of the chance to mutilate the Slayer himself if he ever got the chance?

God, after-life was just full of depressing choices, wasn't it?

"Bloody hell," Spike muttered finally. "Suppose I'd better do something." With that he quietly slid down the ladder, and set off in search of the self-proclaimed Scooby Gang. No doubt they'd be out here looking for their missing people.


	8. Chapter 8

Seriously, ya'll, please review. Just take a moment and say _something_. No point in going on if no one cares. Thanks for the one review I did get for the last chapter! :) Anyway, I hope ya'll enjoy this chapter. Can't wait to hear from you! Thanks!

Chapter 8

Buffy walked back to campus in a daze, barely remembering to dry her face again before she reached the room. Willow was on her back on her bed, holding a book above her face as she read it. She looked up when her friend came in.

"Buffy? Back so soon?" She sat up and left the book on the bedside table. She frowned. "What is it? I mean...besides the obvious."

Buffy closed the door behind her and went to sit on her own bed. "Nothing...I just..." The urge to tell the others, find out what was going on, and punish whatever was doing it had fled. At the moment she was almost hoping she really was just crazy. That the grief and the guilt she really did feel were simply driving her to see things. That would be the easiest answer.

But nothing was ever simple in her life, was it?  
After a moment Willow moved to sit beside her, and spoke after looking at her for a moment. "You didn't go out to the cemetary to hunt vamps, did you?"

She thought about lying again, but what would have been the point?

"No," she admitted.

"Oh...well...why didn't you just say so? I could've...I don't know...gone with you, or something."

Buffy shrugged and shook her head forlornly. "I needed to go alone." Her gaze fell on the course catalog, which had been put back on her bed and lay abandoned beside her. She picked it up and began to flip through it again. "So did you find something that would work in both our schedules?"

"No. I gave up."

She looked at Willow in confusion. "What? Why? I mean, I know this isn't the biggest college in the nation, but there has to be _something_ almost-worth-taking that doesn't conflict for both of us."

"That's not what I mean. I mean that there's no point. Making ourselves busy so we don't have to deal with stuff isn't going to help. It won't change anything."

Buffy stared at her for a long moment, but even through the haze of mental overload she was still experiencing from her encounter in the graveyard, that logic finally got through. Finally she sighed a little and tossed the catalog to the floor by her closet. "I guess you're right. It _wouldn't_ change anything, would it?"

From the corner of her eye saw Willow shrug. "No, not really. It's still your fault any way you look at it."

Buffy twisted to look at her friend again, certain she'd heard wrong...but already she felt as if she had ice in her veins. "What?"

Willow just looked at her with that innocent expression she had down so well, as if what she said next was no different than what had happened in any other heartfelt conversation the two girls had ever had.

"What? You already knew that, didn't you? I mean really, Buffy, the way you've gone around so broken up all the time since it happened, I thought you had that figured out. No offense or anything; it's just the truth."

"N-no...Will, what...?" Buffy stood up and backed away, her heart pouding in her ears. "What are you talking about?" she questioned shakily. Willow stood too, but she didn't advance like the thing in the cemetary had. She just stood there, arms crossed.

"It's your fault, Buffy. Giles dying. We all know it; we just don't talk about it. But then again, I think you already knew that none of us are big on communication anymore." She shrugged again. "Anyway, there's just no other way to look at it. It was obvious that demon and his groupies wanted _you_, and that has to be why they hurt Giles. They wanted him to help them get to you, and he wouldn't. They went too far, and he died. Ergo, your fault."

Buffy stared at her in horror. "Willow, please...don't..."

But the young witch continued mercilessly. "And you know, I bet you'd have had a chance of getting him out of there if you hadn't half ignored the guy most of last year, like you did the rest of us. If you'd kept training. But no, you thought you knew enough! You thought you knew it all! You got cocky. And then you got a boyfriend, and the rest of us were just extra. We didn't matter anymore."

"No! That's not true! You always mattered...all of you..."

Willow snorted. "Tell it to someone who might believe you."

"Will..." She couldn't make sense of any of it. Her head a was spinning. One moment, Willow was her friend, as comforting as she'd always been, and now...

Buffy swallowed. "He got to you. I-it got to you. Somehow...before I even got back. It—"

"You mean Giles?"

"Willow, it's not Giles! It _can't_ be! He would never—"

The other girl smirked, and it wasn't Willow anymore. "Wouldn't what? See the truth in all this? Oh, but he was always the one who saw the truth, even when you didn't. Now I see it too. And so do the others."

This wasn't her friend. Willow would have questioned the appearance of the apparition just as much as Buffy was herself. She wouldn't just fall in line. That wasn't Willow. She had to have been...affected, somehow. _In_fected, maybe. With something. Something whatever-this-was could do to people, to make them not act like themselves.

Buffy backed into the door, grasping that explanation and holding onto it tightly. "The others," she echoed weakly. "It's going after the others too?"

She didn't know what it had done to Willow, but she would worry about getting her friend back after she'd kept the others from being affected in the first place—if she could do that.

"We're going to make you pay for this, Buffy," not-Willow sneered. "For everything you did to _all_ of us."

Buffy almost tripped as she ripped the door open behind her and ran. _Please, please, please don't let me be too late. _Her chest felt torn open; even if it hadn't really been Willow—and it _couldn't_ have been, she told herself again—it still hurt.

She didn't want to, but she remembered what had been said. _Everything_ that had been said. It pounded over and over in her ears like a broken record in her mind she couldn't shut off, and she only had one coherent thought of her own. It reverberated through her, spreading a pain that threatened to shut her down for good.

_My fault, my fault, my fault...._

* * *

Spike spotted army boy's vehicle halfway back toward mainland Sunnydale. With no one else around in this part of town but the lowlifes and underworld, he had no qualms about stepping out into the middle of the street to flag tdown whoever was in there.

The SUV screeched to a halt just short of him, and Spike ambled around to the driver's side window. It rolled down, and it was Riley Finn at the helm, of course, but with Xander beside him. He could make out a few shapes in the back, too, but he wasn't interested in exactly who it was. These two in the front were enough. He could drop the info and be off; maybe with a little money if he played his cards right.

"What do you want, Spike?" Riley demanded. "Give me a good reason not to run over you."

"Well your girlfriend would be a bit ticked by that, I'd wager. There's one."

"Uh huh. Sure."

"Again, we ask the question," Xander added.

Spike pulled his cigarrettes and lighter from his jacket pocket, pulled one out to light, and shoved the pack back into his jacket. He held the cigarette in his mouth and shrugged as he lighted it. "Word is Buffy and the old man are missing." The cigarette sufficiently lit, he took a drag from it and pocketed his lighter. "I might have some info on that little situation you'd be interested in."

"Like what?" Riley pressed in annoyance. "We don't have time for your games; you either have something important, or you don't."

"I know where they are."

Finn's eyebrows went up, Xander straightened abruptly, and Spike heard commotion in the back seat as well. He grinned to himself. "You want the address, or not?"

"Where are they?" Riley demanded.

"You ought to know by now I'll be wantin' a little compensation."

At that the door behind Riley opened, and a tall dark figure stepped menacingly from the vehicle. "How about you show us where they are so we don't kill you?" Angel all but growled.

"Bollox," Spike grumbled, rolling his eyes. "What the bloody hell are _you_ doing here?"

"I'm trying to help Buffy and Giles, and I'm getting more than a little pissed about you trying to collect off of it."

"Hey, that's the way things have been runnin' around the here the last few months. They're used to it. Guy's gotta make a livin' somehow, hadn't he?"

Then Angel was on him, hands balled in the front of his coat as he shoved him into the side of the SUV. "Did you not hear him? We don't have for this, Spike. Tell us where they are, or get moving so I don't dust you right here."

Spike shoved back, relishing the opportunity to do so. "Hey, I can actually hurt _you_, Mr. High-and-Mighty, so don't go getting all cocky."

"Just because you can fight back doesn't mean I can't take you."

"Guys! Seriously!" Willow called through Angel's open door. "_What_ were we saying about the time issue thing?"

Angel muttered, "Right," and manhandled Spike into the vehicle as Willow ducked back in. "You're gonna tell us how to get there."

Spike would have fought back, but already being in the vehicle he risked hitting Willow or Tara and setting his chip off, and besides that there was the whole not-wanting-anyone-else-to-kill-Buffy thing...So he let out a frustrated groan that made it clear he wasn't going happily, and dropped onto the seat with his arms crossed.

Angel just stared at him, stil standing on the pavement.

"What?"

"Back," Angel commanded, pointing over Spike shoulder.

Spike snorted. "Hey, I'm the one the info that might save two lives here; I'm not sittin' in the bleeding nosebleed section." He noticed Willow and Tara glancing at each other, and saw Willow roll her eyesin annoyance, but he didn't realize what they were doing until seemingly nothing lifted him carelessly over the top of the middle bench seat and tossed him into the back.

"Hey! What the—" He sat up quickly, rubbing at his head, and glared at the two witches.

Angel smirked, climbed in beside Willow and shut the door. Riley took off immediately, and Spike could see armyboy grinning in the rearview mirror.

"You _do _know you'll all pay for this later," Spike grumbled.

"Just start giving directions," Xander snapped back.

* * *

Giles never meant to drift off, and he didn't know he had until he jerked suddenly from a light sleep. The involuntary movement hurt, and he let out a short breath before slowly pulling in another one. Every inch of his body still ached, his chest and shoulder worst of all, and past the pain he was beginning to lose feeling in his left arm. It didn't help, either, that he still felt faint from the blood loss.

He knew he shouldn't have been angry about the drifting off—not in his condition—but he couldn't help berating himself anyway. He took out his anger in glaring at the green demon that hovered in the short space between where Giles was tied and where Buffy sat, still tied and still unconsious. Her face was still a mask of pain, and the burning Rupert felt in his throat and chest when he saw it again had nothing to do with his injuries.

It took him a moment to notice that Dagkel had noticed _him_, and by the time he did the demon was moving back to his side again. One side of the thing's face was cocked; it as if he were human, he would be raising an eyebrow.

"You'd best be glad you're still _alive_, Watcher," Dagkel snickered. "With the Slayer here, we have no need for you; Sohlehk wouldn't have objected if I'd killed you hours ago."

"Then why don't you get on with it?" Giles growled angrily, tiredly.

Part of him knew he shouldn't be provoking—should be focused on staying out of any more trouble, on staying alive—but he was exhausted and hurting, and too angry to care at the moment.

The demon growled back, deliberately squeezing his injured shoulder until he gasped.

Giles blinked at the pain, breathing through it and using it to wake himself up. "You might want to get that temper checked," he said finally, when Dagkel let go. At that the demon quickly drew back a hand, all four claws extended, but instead of swiping immediately he only stared menacingly. Giles stared back. Something inside him trembled, but he kept it from making itself known.

Dagkel lowered his arm without using the claws. He let his teeth show in what, for him, was a grin. "I see what you're doing, Watcher. If I kill you, you won't have to watch your Slayer suffer." He cocked his head. "But I won't let you get off that easy," he hissed.

Well, no, the sarcasm had pretty much been just for sarcasm's sake, but the demon could believe what he wanted. Better that none of them knew he was really hoping for anything—such as for Buffy to find a way out of the nightmare or for the other Scoobies to find them.

Though that didn't mean he liked what Dagkel had said.

Giles said nothing else, and let the liard-like thing skitter away. His attention returned to Buffy, and he swallowed hard as she whimpered in her sleep and curled in on herself.

_What on earth is going on in there?_

* * *

The first thing Buffy did was find a pay phone and call Xander. She didn't think she'd ever felt so relieved when he answered, and seemed perfectly normal when she asked him to pick her up. He didn't mind at all, though he wanted to know what was going on. She promised to explain later. She was still too shaken now to do much of anything.

Xander had Anya with him when he came, but that wasn't unusual. Buffy thought nothing of it as the two brought her home. She didn't think much at all until once again her mother was waiting for them, as if she'd known they were coming. Joyce opened the front door and ushered them in.

"Buffy, I'm glad you're here. Some of your friends are here; they insisted on waiting, and whatever's going on seems pretty important..."

"What?"

Somehow, she didn't like the sound of that. Buffy started to look back at Xander in alarm, but he was already steering her into the living room, Anya close at his heels. "Xander, no. Wait—"

It was too late. Willow was there. They were all there. Tara stood with her girlfriend, and Riley wasn't far off, arms crossed sternly where he hovered near the fireplace. Xander and Anya went to stand with the other three, demeanors suddenly not as welcoming as they had been minutes ago. They all stared at her angrily, and Buffy stared back like a deer in headlights.

"Wh-what is this?"

Then _he_ was there, too, in an unobtrusive corner behind them, smirking.

"I told you we were going to make you pay, Buffy," Willow scowled.

Buffy ignored her, focused on the thing that couldn't have been Giles. "But it's only been—how did you—"

He shrugged, still smiling. "All part of the game, Buffy. I've actually been at this for quite a while already, but it's so much more fun to making it seem as if it's all happening at once."

Her head was already shaking when he stopped. "No..." She was backing up, back toward the door, but then Willow and Tara's hands clasped and she was flung back into the wall by the couch and held there. They closed in on her, even her mother, and there was nothing Buffy could do but struggle uselessly again the magic bonds. "No! Stop it! You guys...!"

Buffy trailed off and gasped as a wave of pain stiffened her body, and when she looked at Willow and Tara she realied that this, too, was a result of their power. Another came, worse, and she cried out.

"You've made mistakes before, Buffy, but this is the last straw. Giles was tortured and killed, and for what? To save your sorry hide when you should have found him," Xander spat venemously.

Willow and Tara both smirked, glancing at each other for a moment, and Buffy screamed when the pain made her want to curl in on herself. But she couldn't move.

"It's not my fault!" she sobbed. Her head knew it was true. Things happened. They weren't her fault just because she was the Slayer. But even though she said so, she still felt the contrary. She still felt the guilt.

Buffy shouted and writhed against the wall, and nothing made sense. Willow and Tara weren't _this _powerful, were they? How could _anything_ have done this to her friends? Turned them into this? Much less the simple ghost the Giles-thing was claiming to be. He still stood behind the others, now laughing as he watched them all, as the others shouted at her and the pain made her want to die.

She looked at him now, through the haze her vision had become, looked at _it_, and suddenly her doubts were gone. This wasn't Giles. These weren't her friends.

Was _anything_ real?

The thing's face fell suddenly, as if it could sense her thoughts. He brought up a hand, and everyone fell silent. The pain stopped, but she was still pinned to the wall, and just far enough up that when the thing with Giles's face approached her, he had to look up some as he peered at her, studied her, eyes narrowed in a cruelly calculating way that she never would have seen from her Watcher...the man she'd thought of as a father, even if he'd never known it.

And she knew.

She knew this wasn't happening.

Buffy glared at it. "You're not Giles," she hissed. "Giles _loved_ me."

And the world exploded.

When she realized it was all fading away, Buffy expected to wake up in her bed in the dorm at UC Sunnydale. She expected to wake up from another nightmare—albeit, an incredibly vivid one—to another day without Giles. Another unfortunately normal day just trying to get by.

She _didn't_ expect to wake up back at the warehouse in Docktown.

* * *

Buffy woke silently, with only the smallest of a jerk, and Giles was the only one who noticed. Dagkel had run off to join a pool game, and Sohlehk no longer kept constant watch over her.

Her eyes were damp, and she looked around jerkily, wide-eyed and completely disoriented. She seemed to have no idea where she was. He didn't know how she'd managed to pull herself from the nightmare—the demons seemed to have been indicating it was impossible—but she was awake. She was all right.

Giles let out a quiet breath of relief and straightened as much as he could. "Buffy..." he called softly. Her head snapped around quickly to look at him, and she stared as if she'd seen a ghost. It unnerved him.

"Giles?"

"It's me. It's all right; you're out."

"Out of...?" She glanced at her surroundings again, and then back at him. "This is real?" she questioned, in a strangled whisper.

"I'm afraid so," he had to answer, giving her something of a small, apologetic smile. He elaborated when she still didn't quite seem to buy it. "It's was a dream, Buffy. A-a nightmare. However long it may have seemed, you've only been out for a few hours. Whatever happened, it wasn't real, I promise you. It was only the result of the Rasjeck demon's abilities."

Buffy licked her lips nervously. "Rasjeck...demon?"

"Yes. I finally remembered the name...I'd only ever seen one in my books. This one is called Sohlehk. The larger one over there. He did this to you—trapped you in your mind. Whatever you've been experiencing..." Rupert trailed off, sick to his stomach at the thought of what that might have been. "It's wasn't real," he repeated. "It didn't happen."

"You're real?" she asked weakly.

"I am," he answered gently.

For another long moment Buffy only stared at him, and he found himself worried that the induced nightmare state had left some sort of neurological damage.

Then she sobbed quietly.

"Giles...Oh god, Giles, thank god..."

"Buffy? Are you all right?"

She looked down and started to shake her head, but stopped and shrugged as the tears leaked from her eyes. Not many, but they were there. "I am _now_. I mean...I will be...I..." She looked up at him again and sucked in an shaky breath. "Oh my god, you're okay. I mean you're _not_, but you're _alive_—"

"Good lord..." he swallowed. At least a few of the pieces fell into place, and they were't pretty. "Buffy, I'm...I'm sorry..."

The tears had stopped, but eh ones that had fallen remained in two streaks on her face. Buffy sighed and sagged a litle, back against the beam behind her. She swallowed, too, and looked at him more steadily now. "Hey..._you_ didn't put the movie in my head," she grimaced. The expression she gave him then was suddenly very meaningful as she added, "Just stay alive for me, okay?"

Giles blinked once or twice, and if it was because he was blinking back tears of his own, she would never know it. "I always do my best."

He was rewarded with a tired smile.

"What do you say we get out of here?"

* * *

Spike had been huffy since Angel had dragged him into the SUV with them, but he'd given the directions. Riley had followed them, and now they were parked in an alley a block or so away from the warehouse where the British vampire claimed Slayer and Watcher were being held. Xander wished they'd been able to park closer, but they didn't want to get too close; they needed to element of surprise.

They unloaded the weapons from the trunk and split into pairs with the rough plan of staying close to their partners, to watch each other's backs when they went in. Though they didn't like each other at all, Riley and Angel seemed to find something in common with a mutual hatred of Spike, and the two paired up to leave the other vampire to Xander.

"Oh yeah, that's just great guys," he complained.

"What's wrong, Xander? Afraid of the Big Bad?" Spike smirked.

"_Not_ in the slightest. It's just a principle thing."

"Xander. Not the time," Willow admonished.

Tara nodded quickly in agreement. "We've got to get in there; we don't know how much time Buffy and Giles have left."

Riley pointed a thumb over his shoulder at his own partner. "If I can pair up with this guy, you can deal with Spike."

"Hey!" Angel protested.

"You're my girlfriend's ex. It's my job to despise you."

"Fine, I guess that's fair..."

Xander just shook his head. "Never mind. Let's get moving."

The six of them advanced down the alley in silence, and Spike indicated when they'd reached the right warehouse. The three teams split up, per the plan, to position themselves at all three exits, and Willow and Tara broadcasted a mental _3, 2, 1..._

Battle-ax in hand, Spike kicked open the side door the two of them were waiting outside of, and Xander followed him in, crossbow ready. A vamp came at him almost immediately, and he was lucky his first shot found it's mark. The thing dusted, and he twisted to take in his surroundings.

The place looked like a vampire nest, complete with several vamps, but for the fact that there were also three demons present. Willow and Tara had come in the opposite side door near a collection of pool and card tables and were using their magic to cause one vampire at a time to burst into flames. Those that weren't being taken out by the witches were in some major trouble with Spike, and Angel and Riley had come in the main door and were being set on by the two smaller demons and the rest of the vamps.

The largest demon stood in the midst of it all, glaring and managing to look very much in charge at the same time. The general who let his men do the work for him. Xander almost thought about going for him, but that was when he realied that the two people they'd all come in after were so close he'd overlook them. It looked like they'd both been tied to support beams, but Buffy was just jumping to her feet, ropes falling to the floor. There was a matching set of scratch marks across her torso, but they were already healing. She was fine, and she was angry.

"Xander! Get Giles out of here!" she called.

He nodded quickly, partner forgotten. Spike wouldn't care anyway; he'd taken over the fight with the two smaller lizard-like demons, and left the vampires to Angel and Riley and the witches. He looked to be having a good time, and it didn't seem right to bother him.

As Buffy swiped a wooden pool cue from one of the tables and rushed into the fight, Xander went to Giles and dropped to a knee at the older man's side. He was glad he had a pocket knife when he realized how tight the ropes were, and he grimaced as he cut through them.

"Hey, how you holding up? You look like hell," he said, trying to make inane conversation to cover the fact the way Giles looked right now scared him a little. He really did look bad.

It brought back bad memories he didn't really want to revisit...pulling a similarly-bad-looking Giles from the mansion in Sunnydale after what Angelus had done to him. He didn't look any better this time, and this time there was more blood—most notably the injured shoulder, where a small but nasty-looking wound showed through the hole in the sweater there.

Giles snorted. "You young people state the obvious much too often."

"Well you're acting like you, so I'm gonna say you're gonna be fine," Xander smiled, just as much to assure himself as for anything else. He finally had the ropes cut through, and he tossed them away and crossed to Giles's other side to get to his good shoulder. He pulled Giles's right arm over his own shoulders and started up slowly.

"Careful!" Giles barked quickly, sucking in a breath. His left arm hung uselessly at his side, but the way he tried to curl in a little seemed to indicate at least bruised ribs, if they weren't cracked or broken. Xander swore quietly and took it as slowly and carefully as he could.

"Doin' the bast I can."

Giles grimaced. "Appreciated."

Xander nodded once and risked a glance out at the battle, and his worry for the others was eased by what he saw. The last two demons were being slowly surrounded by the rest of the Scoobies, but for Buffy, who was backing the last vamp into a corner.

It would be over soon.

* * *

The vamp that had taken blood from Giles was the only one left, and Buffy wasn't going to let the pleasure of dusting him get away from her like it had in the nightmare.

She was still getting used to that.

It had only been a nightmare, that whole month she'd lived. Already it seemed a little fainter than real memory, and that helped, but she still remembered every moment. She remembered grieving.

But Giles was alive. This fight was almost over. Everything was going to be fine, right?

Buffy smirked at the cornered vamp. "I don't think we had the chance to be properly introduced before. I'm the Slayer; what's your name?"

It didn't answer, only glared, and she glared back. "Fine." She nodded across the warehouse to where Xander was slowly helping Giles up. "Remember him? Feeding off him?" she growled. She could hear her Watcher breathing heavily from here, the sound echoing in the suddenly quiet cavernous space, and knowing he was in pain made her jaw clench for a moment before she spoke next. "Last mistake you'll ever make," she ground out.

With nothing to lose, the vampire snarled and jumped her, but she was ready. She thrust the splintered cue stick into his heart as he came at her, and in seconds he was nothing but ash. She almost wished she could have drawn it out more, but he wasn't her biggest problem.

The demon Giles had called Sohlehk was still alive—the one she'd recognized as the leader before. It was his fault any of this had happened at all. It was his fault Giloes had ever been messed with the first place, and he was going to pay for it.

Buffy turned to see that her friends had Sohlehk and one of green lizard things surrounded. The smaller demon was the one that had a healing wound on it's arm, and that was when it chose to bolt in hopes of escape.

Angel and Spike took it's head off at the same time, coming from either side with battle axes, and the two pieces of the demon dropped between them. Then, predictably, they glared at each other.

Wait.

Angel?

Buffy's heart fluttered, like it always did and always would, whenever she saw him, but now wasn't the time to question why he was here. There was still Sohlehk to deal with, and through the windows above she could see that the sky was just barely beginning to lighten. She knew the two vampires would want to be out of here and someplace else—more than likely two seperate someplace-elses—before the sun rose.

The single remaining demon glared vehemently at her. "This is not over," he sneered.

Angel tossed her his axe, and she dropped the makeshift stake.

"Really. Looks pretty damn over to me," she answered flatly.

She was about to say something else before killing him, when Sohlehk spun away from her without warning. A blast of blue energy streaked from the strange skin formations in one of his plams—the same blue energy she now remembered being zapped with before the nightmare began. That had to have been what caused it.

"Xander! Giles!"

It was headed straight for them.

Buffy saw Willow and Tara quickly mutter something together, maybe an attempt to stop it, but the second they had wasn't enough. Xander tried to pull them both out of the way, farther toward the door they'd been heading for, but to no avail.

The blast caught Giles in the chest, and with a shout he went down, torn from Xander's grasp.


	9. Chapter 9

Thanks so much for the reviews! It helps a lot to know you're all enjoying the story, and I hope to continue to hear from ya'll. :) So here's the next chapter. I hope it's good reading, and I can't wait to hear what ya think! Thanks so much again. :)

Note: I've got at least two more solid ideas for Buffy stories, if ya'll think I'm doing all right enough in the genre to continue once this story is done. One's another long one, kind of AU splintting off from Becoming Part 2 and dealing heavily with Giles, and the other is a shorter Giles/Jenny oneshot. If anybody's interested.

Chapter 9

Xander heard the crackle of energy, and he glanced up just in time to see the streak of blue whatever-the-hell-it-was coming at them. His heart kicking into overdrive, he tried to move, but there was just no way to be fast enough. One couldn't do much in a split second. His brain had just told him to drop, because that blue stuff would probably hurt Giles a lot more than even the falling would no matter how unpleasant that would be right now, but there was no moment to execute that thought before the blast found a target in Xander's charge.

There was enough force behind it that the Watcher was ripped away from Xander and batted to the ground like a rag doll. He shouted once, on impact, more from the air being knocked out of him than from really having any time to be in pain before he hit the ground and lay still.

"Giles!"

Xander heard himself call the older man's name, and heard it echoed behind him by a few of the others, under Buffy's inarticulate scream. He heard the sounds of conflict, and knew the Slayer and other Scoobies were taking care of the demon that had done this. That wasn't his concern as he dropped to his knees and anxiously shook the man that been a better father to him that his own had ever been.

"Giles! Damnit!"

There was no response, of course. He was still and pale. The front of Giles's sweater was scorched now, and as much as Xander hated to admit it, he detected the stench of burnt flesh. And blood. There was definitely blood.

"Oh god..."

It wasn't until then that he thought to check for a pulse, and couldn't help quietly cursing himself for the delay. As it was, there was one. It wasn't as strong and steady as he knew a heartbeat should be, but beyond that he didn't know how to judge.

Still bent over Giles's still form, Xander heard light running footsteps draw up behind him and realized he must have missed the rest of the battle. When he glanced back, Sohlehk dead and Buffy was standing over his shoulder, looking down at her Watcher in horror.

"Riley—" she began in a strangled voice.

From a few feet farther back her boyfriend was already pulling out his phone. "Way ahead of you." He strode several paces away to call 911.

Angel came up quietly behind Buffy, as if he wanted to say something, but he didn't seem to be what she was thinking about as she twisted back to look at the others. "Willow, Tara, see what you can do for Giles before the ambulance gets here. Spike, Angel, we're getting these demon bodies out of here and then you two should split before the sun is all the way up.

Willow and Tara hurried to Giles's side, kneel on his other side across from Xander. Xander, meanwhile, was watching the vampires. Spike started to grumble, but he headed for one of the lizard-looking carcasses and began to haul it toward the other side door and, presumably, a dumpster.

Angel hesitated, and as he looked at Buffy she looked back. From his vantage point he only saw half of the nervous, appreciative smile she gave her ex.

"Cordy had a vision," he explained briefly. "I know you don't really think we should be butting into each others' lives if we can avoid it, but uh..."

"It's okay. Thanks for coming," she answered quickly. But Xander knew her well enough to know she was sincere.

Angel nodded silently, then shrugged and motioned over his shoulder. "After we get this stuff out of the way, I'll uh...I'll go back to Giles's place for the day." He glanced down at Giles and winced. "I don't think I should be leaving just yet. If that okay with you, I mean..."

Buffy nodded. "Yeah. That'd be fine." There was a whole lot more going on there, but as usual Xander was so far out of the loop on the status of those two that he wasn't even sure there _was_ a loop.

"Will?" Buffy spun again, back toward the rest of them—Xander and the two witches and the unconsious Giles.

Willow looked up and shrugged helplessly. "We'll do what we can, Buffy, but this one's really gonna be up to the paramedics. This is—" She grimaced, swallowed, and her eyes fell. "This is pretty serious."

But even as she said it, her fingers were entwining with Tara's, and the two of them concentrated. After a moment there was a soft green glow about their free hands, with which they gripped Giles's arm. The energy seemed to flow into him, and though nothing visible changed at first, they assured him it was having some effect.

"But only some," Tara admitted when Xander asked again. Her eyes were still closed as she concentrated. "Healing spells are tricky things, and they're not meant to fix everything—especially not more serious injures. Mainly because yes, magic is meant to be used to help people, but not to interefere with the natural order of things..." She trailed off. "I'm not even looking at you and I can tell I'm boring you."

"That's just Xander," Willow commented. Her tone was tight with worry. Xander didn't have to see her eyes to know how concerned she was for Giles.

Xander swallowed. "Sorry. I just wanna know he'll be okay."

Buffy's arms crossed tightly, and she gave one tense nod. "Me too." Then she went to help Angel and Spike haul out the remaining bodies, and when Riley got off the phone he joined them. Buffy was the only one to come back, and she was wearing her boyfriend's jacket to cover the torn shirt.

"It was too close to light out there. Riley's dropping Spike at his crypt and Angel at Giles's place. He'll pick up Anya there, come back for the three of you, and you'll meet me at the hospital," Buffy told them. "I'm going with Giles in the ambulance."

Xander nodded in agreement. "You should get those scratches seen to anyway."

She blinked at him almost as if she had no idea what he meant, and then glanced down at her stomach and torn bottom half of her shirt. "Oh. Right," she answered absently. Buffy swallowed and crouched beside him to get closer to Giles. It was right about then that the spell the two witches were working across from them started to have an apparent effect. Slowly, the nasty-looking burns from Sohlehk's energy blast began to look not quite so bad.

It wasn't enough to staunch the nagging worry in the pit of his stomach—Giles still looked pretty horrible, overall—but it was something, for the moment.

Buffy watched the progress anxiously. "Hey...that's good, right? That it's doing something?"

Willow's eyes opened finally, and she looked at her friend apologetically. "It's...something," she provided noncommitally. Xander had the distinct feeling that there was something she wasn't saying. He also knew that it would be useless to ask.

Buffy swallowed as Will went back to concentrating, and as she and Tara did so, Xander thought he saw the shoulder wound shrink a little, from what he could see through the hole in the sweater, but he wasn't sure. Then both witches stopped, opened theit eyes and released each other's hands.

"That's all we can do," Tara sighed quietly.

"I'm sorry," Willow grimaced. "We just haven't had a lot of—really any practice at _all_ with these kids of spells."

"You did your best," Xander told them, nodding in thanks. Will gave him a weak smile, and the slight change of expression on Tara's face told him that she, too, was thankful for the comment.

Buffy said nothing, but she did nod in agreement with what Xander had said. Beyond that, she seemed to be a million miles away. That much was clear by her face, as she looked at Giles but seemed to be seeing something else. Xander knew from experience that something was bothering her—something big—and he could only come up with one answer.

"This wasn't your fault, Buff," he said quietly.

Willow picked up on what was going on, what he was doing, and she seconded him. "None of it," she added. "Demons are demons and vampires are vampires. They're just evil, and, you know, you fight 'em and...things happen."

Buffy didn't answer at first. She was right next to Giles, right there at his shoulder because Xander had scooted back a little to let her in when she came down. She was right next to him, but though she was so close, when she reached out toward Giles now she did it tentatively, as if afraid he might crumble into nothing if she touched him. After a moment she lightly brushed back a clump of sweat and blood-matted hair, checking the severity of a deep cut at his hairline.

She looked up only for a moment, but in that moment Xander saw something deep and haunted in her worried eyes that sent a chill down his spine.

"I know," she answered. But either she didn't believe it, or she didn't care that it was true.

* * *

Buffy was sure that whatever Willow and Tara had done was enough. Their spell had done some visible good, and she was certain that it was enough to keep Giles going, to make sure he would be all right. And it worked perfectly in that capacity.

Until the paramedics arrived.

Giles crashed once before they'd even gotten him into the ambulance, which made leaving Willow and Xander and Tara behind at the warehouse even harder, as worried as it left them. It had set Buffy on edge herself, and it didn't help that it happened twice more before they had it to the hospital. Each time she was certain that was it; her nightmare was coming true. With barely an hour's distance from escaping the horrible dreamworld that had seemed so real, it was going to come back and bite her in the ass for the spite of being left behind. It was going to come true.

But Giles was still alive when they wheeled his gurney into the hospital.

Buffy was pulled away, elsewhere, not allowed to follow, and her own wounds were seen to. Then she found herself, of course, in the waiting room, and she hated it. She still hated hospitals, and always would, and with Giles in danger everything was only made worse.

Then the first news came.

The sensation of letting the world fade away was easy enough to give in to, and she let it happen. She was still nowhere, perched on the edge of a chair there in the waiting room when the others arrived. Buffy didn't even hear them until someone gently pulled her up, and then she was in Riley's arms. She held on for a long time, and when she pulled back Xander and Anya and Willow and Tara were looking at her expectantly along with her boyfriend.

She knew the look on her face wasn't encouraging, but she didn't have a chance to erase it before Willow got the wrong idea.

"Oh god, Buffy, he's not—"

"He's alive," Buffy cut in quietly.

"Then what is it?" Riley asked

She swallowed, and noticed that her throat was sore. "Apparently they've got him some semblance of stable right now, but they're not sure if he'll make it through the day," she whispered.

The others just stared. After all, what could they say to that? _She_ didn't know what to say to that. "And...and even if he lives, they don't know if he'll wake up."  
"What?" Willow chirped in shock.

"Why?" Xander protested. "He didn't take a hit to the head or anything."

But Buffy knew what kind of hit he _had_ taken. "He's in some kind of coma, but it's...different. They don't know what's causing it." She did, though. What with the blast causing damage in the form of the heavy impact burns, she hadn't thought it was exactly the same type of energy that had knocked her into nightmare land. Now she thought it may have been just that. She hadn't been worried about it before, but now she was.

"The demon," Tara said immediately.

Willow's eyes widened, and she nodded. "I thought I sensed something weird when we were trying to help him. Something was all wonky in his brain. We'd never done that before, so I wrote it off. I thought it was just what a person's mind felt like when something like that happened."

Buffy shook her head. "Afraid not. We've got a bigger problem."

* * *

Giles wasn't sure when things had gotten so fuzzy, but they had. He remembered Buffy waking up and freeing herself, and he'd been certain she was going to get them out of there...

He realized he was untied and someone was trying to pull him up, and wondered if he'd passed out and missed the battle somehow, or if Buffy was trying to sneak them out without instigating one. He set his jaw against the pain and glanced up, but he found Xander at his side, not Buffy.

The battle was just starting, and the other Scoobies were in on it too.

That was when he remembered their entrance. Buffy had just stood, and Spike and Xander had burst through the side door nearby, and the others had come through the other two doors. He thought he'd seen someone else, but he supposed he'd been wrong. Seeing things. He counted only Buffy and Riley and Willow and Tara and Spike, fighting the vampires and two of the three remaining demons. No Anya, but he hadn't expected to see Anya. She wasn't the combat type. He assumed she was either waiting outside or set up somewhere as command central. Sohlehk, of course, was doing his best to do nothing.

"Giles, come on, help me out here," Xander complained.

"Sorry..." He braced against the beam behind him and pushed up with his legs. His left arm was uselss, but he tightened his grip on Xander's shoulders with his right and pulled that way, too, as much as he could. He realized he wasn't ready yet, and Xander let him sit back again while they waited to try again.

"So you gonna answer that question, or just leave me hangin?"

Giles blinked at him. "What?"

"How you holidng up? Is it as bad as it looks?" The questions were presented almost casually, but there was something in the boy's voice and the way he glanced anxiously at Giles that gave away his real concern. Rupert was grateful for that, but he didn't want Xander worrying too much.

"I'll be all right. With medical attention and some conbsiderable time to heal, more than likely, but I'll be fine," he answered, as reassuringly as he could.

Xander had looked over his shoulder at the battle, but now he looked back and gave something of a smile. "Yeah, of course you will. Ready to get out of here?"

Giles would have answered, but suddenly he realized that Sohlehk was closing in on Buffy, who was stalking the vampire that had fed on him. Another vamp had come at her from the side, and she'd dusted it with a makeshift stake she must have broken from a chair, and between the two of them she didn't have time to notice the demon was near. All of this he saw in a split second, and Giles lurched involuntarily forward just as Sohlehk reached for her from behind.

"Buffy, look out!"

Sohlehk snapped her neck before she could even register what he'd said.

The sound echoed much louder than it seemed to have any right to, and the battle came to an abrupt halt. Vampires and demons and humans alike paused to stare in shock as a grinning Sohlehk let Buffy Summers's limp body fall to the ground.

Willow was the first to react. She screamed, and power crackled around her and was supplemented by what came from Tara as the other witch responded with her. The energy flew from their fingertips to fry the demon where he stood. Sohlehk dropped to the ground with a deep cry, but he wasn't dead. Incapacitated, yes, but not dead yet.

That was when Xander recovered enough to articulate.

"NO!" he shouted. The boy snatched up the crossbow he'd set down and ran at the grounded demon, but he seemed to have forgotten that the battle wasn't otherwise over.

"Wait—!" Giles called. There were a few vampires left, and the other lizard demon was dead, but Dagkel was still alive and kicking.

Xander's charge kicked the battle back into full swing as the final few adversaries were taken out, but that was enough distraction for the others that at first no one could do anything when Dagkel tackled Xander to the ground before he could reach Sohlehk and finish him off.

Giles shouted, doing his best to get to his feet himself with the steel beam as support. "Xander!"

But there was nothing he could do from where he was, the way he was, and the small green demon ripped mercilessly at the boy's flesh on his arms and torso before Spike made it there and lopped it's head off. A moment later Riley was the one to do the same to Sohlehk, putting the devil out of his misery and chopping well after there was no need for it.

Then, suddenly, that was it. The demons were dead, and every last vampire save Spike was nothing but dust. Both Buffy and Xander lay still, Xander with a pool of blood slowly forming under him, and for a long moment there was nothing but silence.

Riley went to Buffy without a word, dropped to his knees to pull her up into his arms, and checked for a pulse. Everyone else stood, holding a collective breath, waiting.

When he hugged her still form tighter and buried his face in her hair as his shoulders started to shake, it was the only answer any of them needed. Giles was on his feet by then, and he felt his knees buckle. It took all of his strength to stay upright. _No..._

Willow sobbed once from where she stood, and then again, and then more. Tara looked distressed, and put an arm around her for comfort, but steered her quickly toward Xander. When the two witches knelt at his side, Tara taking Willow's hand again and attempting to calm her enough for the two of them to do a spell, Giles realized it meant the boy was still alive. Tara knew they needed to help him, if they could.

Giles stayed where he was. He couldn't think, and he couldn't move. He watched as Tara helped get the spell started, then temporarily left Willow to carry it on as best she could as she crossed to Riley to pull his cell phone from his pocket and call 911. Spike was standing on the sidelines, dumbstruck, staring at Riley holding Buffy, battle axe hanging limply from his hands. Giles watched Tara finish the phone call, turn to the vampire and order him to clear out the three demon bodies before the paramedics showed—showing the quiet strength that he'd always suspected lay within the girl somewhere.

Strangely enough, Spike obeyed her, if only for something to do besides stare. Several minutes later the deed was done, and Spike did not come back. Though that could have had something to do with the fact that the sky was lightening outside.

Tara had returned to help Willow, and the young redhead now had her unconcious best friend's head in her lap, crying softly as she alternately stared and tried not to look at the scene only a few yards away...where Riley Finn sobbed over his girlfriend's body.

Giles stumbled away from the beam before he'd consciously decided to move, and by some miracle he made it to Riley's side and dropped to his knees there. It should have hurt—a lot—but he didn't feel it. All he could feel was the very realistic sensation of his heart being ripped from his chest and stamped to pieces in front of him as he looked at Buffy's still face.

_This isn't happening. _

He thought he'd outgrown such ridiculous thought processes, but there it was. He couldn't understand how this could be real. Buffy was—

She was different. She wasn't just any other Slayer.

She wasn't supposed to die.

Not now.

Not like this.

It wasn't supposed to end like this.


	10. Chapter 10

Okay, so please do review ya'll. I really want to know what you think of this chapter. :) Here ya go, and Thanks so Much! Anyway, off to finish homework now...ugh.

Chapter 10

As early in the morning as it was, the waiting room in Sunnydale's hospital was thankfully near to empty and Buffy's friends sat around her in the cold chairs at one corner of the room, staring after the information she'd just given them.

"Oh my god," Willow gasped. "You mean right now Giles could be...like..."

"Anything could be going on in there, I'd bet," Buffy confirmed briefly. "I'm deciding to believe he's going to be fine otherwise, but we still have to find a way to get him out. Even if he could do it on his own like I did, I don't want to wait for that. In the few hours I was under, I lived a month in there."

Xander frowned. "A month of what?"

At her side Riley's arm around her shoulders tightened just a little. Even though she hadn't given details about much of anything, hearing about it at all had kicked him into overprotective mode.

"It's not important. It was bad, and if I'm right and Giles is trapped like I was, I hate to think what could be happening to him. I don't know if time is always different in the same way with every case, but we can't take that chance."

"Well yeah, of course," Willow nodded emphatically.

Xander shrugged. "Yeah...not to pry or anything. I only asked cause, you know, I care."

Buffy gave him a weak smile. "I know. But I'll be fine, really. We have Giles to worry about right now."

"Buffy."

She looked up at the call of her name, and her eyebrows went up when she saw who was standing at the entrance to the waiting room. She stood, and the others did too.

"Angel. What...?"

The vampire shrugged as he strode over to meet them. "I spent about five minutes sitting in that apartment and realized I couldn't do that all day. I got here my own way."

Buffy glanced about to make sure no one they didn't know was too close, and lowered her voice back to the level she'd used when explaining Sohlehks powers and such to the others moment before. "But there's no sewer access in Giles's _house_!"

"No, but there's easy enough access not far from there." She stared him down for a moment, and as broad-shouldered and gorgeous as he was, Angel still managed to look sheepish. "So there's a slightly scorched blanket I'll have to replace later."

She rolled her eyes, but she smiled. As insane as things were, strangely enough the melancholy of having him here didn't hurt right now. It helped. She squeezed Riley's arm and said quietly, "I'm going to hug him, and you're not going to go postal on me." She looked at her boyfriend pointedly, though he got so far as to open his mouth to protest, he seemed to realize that now was not the time to make trouble. He let go of her and took a step back with Willow and Tara and Xander and Anya, settling for a look of disgruntled relent.

Buffy gave Riley a smile that eased his expression a little, and then turned to Angel, who readily accepted and returned the warm embrace she gave him.

"Thanks for coming out here," she told him again, able to take the time to put more feeling in it this time.

"Both you _and_ Giles were in the vision. I couldn't let anything happen to either of you." Buffy pulled back, and he continued, smiling a little. "After all, I may not be Giles's favorite person, but he's a good guy, and he's helped me out before. And you're not bad yourself."

Buffy would have chuckled under any other circumstances, but she could only manage to keep the smile she already had on for another moment or two before it fell. "Giles is still in trouble."

"What's going on?"

* * *

Rupert Giles despised hospitals. He saw too much of them, particularly hated it when he was the one trapped in one, and now was no exception.

Except, perhaps, that this time was worse than any other.

It had been more than thirty hours since an ambulance had whisked him away from the warehouse in Docktown, and he had now been long-since clean, medicated, bandaged, and well fed. Or as well as a hospital's food could be. None of it helped much.

No one had come in the ambulance with him. Riley went with Buffy when her body was taken to the morgue, and Willow would not seperate from Tara. As far as Rupert had heard in snatches of conversation, Willow and Tara had taken Riley's vehicle to pick up Anya, and they had all ended up at the hospital. Willow had promptly discovered where both Xander and Giles had been taken, and claimed to be family to both of them to be certain the remains of the Scoobies would have a conduit to information on the condition of their injured friends.

Giles had seen them all briefly the night before, when he had finally been allowed visitors, but beyond making sure that he would be all right, none of them had said much.

What was there to say?

Giles had been alone since then, and truth be told he wasn't certain he really wanted any company.

Last night the others had reported what little news there was on Xander, and it hadn't been good then. Rupert had hoped at first that he might be placed in the same room, or at least somewhere nearby, but the boy wasn't even on the same floor. His condition was different, and much worse, and he was in a different department entirely.

A soft knock on the doorframe made him blink, breaking his steady stare at nothing.

"Giles?"

He sat up slowly, wincing, and looked toward the doorway to see a single slim figure standing there. His left arm rested in a sling, but with the other he pulled his glasses from the tray at the side of the bed and slipped them on.

"Willow."

"Yeah...just me. Tara went to get us something to eat, and Anya won't leave Xander, and...and Riley kind of...disappeared..." There was a chair by the wall, but she didn't bother to pull it over. Instead she crossed to his bed and sat on the edge, and was silent at first.

"I'm sorry none of us came back to see you sooner. We were...just..."

"It's all right. I understand."

Willow grimaced, and several tears found their way from her eyes. She swiped at them almost angrily. "That's why I'm here, I guess," she said then. She blinked to clear her eyes, but it only brought more tears. "Damnit."

Giles reached up to lightly grip her wrist and pull her hand away from her face, letting her know it was all right. "I know."

Willow sobbed, still not quite looking at him. "I'm sorry. I-Iwasn't gonna come in here and-and do this. It's just...I mean, Tara's always there for me, and she loves me, and I know that, and I love _her..._but she doesn't _know_. She wasn't _there_, sophmore year, wh-when Buffy came, and you came, and everything changed, and-and-and...she_ can't_ know. She can't know what it feels like, knowing Buffy's gone," she cried. "Oh god, Buffy's _gone_..."

Rupert's throat closed off, and it was a long moment before he could take an unsteady breath and answer. "I know," he repeated in a strangled whisper.

It wasn't supposed to happen. It was never supposed to happen. Going into the role of Watcher to the active Slayer, he'd known it would likely be unavoidable, and in the beginning he'd tried to keep distant. He'd _tried_,damnit. He'd tried to stand by his training, to do things by the book, to be the type of Watcher that damnable Quentin Travers would probably have approved of—the type the Council wouldn't have fired.

Those efforts had quickly gone down the drain, and he hadn't been the least sad to see them go.

Then he'd tried to deny that it would ever happen, but it had. For every Slayer in history there was that one moment, the one where the enemy was too strong, or too numerous, or one small thing sent everything in the wrong direction in an otherwise run-of-the-mill battle. For every Slayer throughout time there had been that moment, when it ended. When they died. For most, it happened young. Often when they were younger even than Buffy...had been.

He'd tried to forget, to ignore, to rest in the assertion that _his_ Slayer was better, had beaten the odds more than once and would continue to do so. He'd done everything, too, that he could to do his part in making certain that what he believed would be true. He'd trained her the best he knew how, to be as certain as one could be that it wouldn't happen. It wasn't going to happen to Buffy.

But it happened.

And Rupert Giles hurt.

The hole in his chest was larger even than when he'd lost Jenny, and at the time he hadn't thought that could be possible.

Willow gripped the hand that had taken her wrist a moment before, and squeezed almost painfully, but he didn't mind. The girl calmed herself enough to speak again, but the very tone of her voice made it clear that that wouldn't last long.

"Giles...Giles, they finally gave us more information on Xander," she said tightly. "They didn't really know anything yesterday, b-but when they had something, they told m-me, and..." Her resolve broke, and she began to sob again. "Giles, they don't think he'll make it another night. They're saying the da-damage is too extensive."

_Oh god..._

Willow was finally looking him in the eyes, and Giles knew his own were wide. He opened his mouth, but he didn't know how he could respond to that.

_No. No no no no no._

"What if they're right? What if we lose him too? I've known him my whole _life_, Giles!" she cried. She pressed the back of her free hand to her mouth, hard, and her eyes fell again.

Rupert blinked, and his own tears fell. He squeezed the small hand in his, torn apart even more by the fact that he could really do nothing for her but be here.

"Oh...Willow..."

She dropped the hand at her mouth and was quiet for a moment. "How did everything go so wrong so fast?" she choked out finally. "What are we going to do?"

Giles swallowed. "I don't know," he admitted softly. "I know the task of keeping Sunnydale safe doesn't disappear just because..." He let out a breath. "I'm sorry. I wish I had a better answer for you."

Willow didn't say anything in response. Instead she released his hand and wrapped her arms around herself tightly. She leaned into his shoulder, the good one, pulling her legs up onto the edge of the bed, and curled there she silently began to cry again.

Giles didn't know what to do but hold her with his one cooperating arm...leaving him no hands with which to hold his cracking heart together.

* * *

"Damn," Angel said, once he'd heard the explanation Buffy had dished out a second time. His grimace faded, and he looked at her with concern. "Buffy, are you sure you're...?"

"Yes," she sighed. "How many times do I have to reiterate that we're worried about Giles right now?" The vampire shrugged, and she couldn't help being thankful for the concern.

"Do we have a plan?" Riley asked. "I mean, yeah, we definitely need to get him out of there if that's what's going on, but how? Whatever's doing this is definitely mystical."

"I know. Willow? Tara? Any ideas?"

Willow looked thoughtful. "Well you said you snapped out of it when you absolutely realized it wasn't real, right?"

"Well, yeah...but it was just what was happening right then that made it seem too much to be real. Before that it was bad, but it was realistic. Whatever's going on in Giles's head might not reach that point—or not soon enough for my tastes, anyway. I want him out _now_, not in a week when he's lived years in there. I told you guys; we've got to move fast on this."

"Oh I know, I heard you, and..." She trailed off and frowned. "No, that wouldn't work."

"What?" Buffy questioned.

"Well I was gonna say somebody should let him know it's not real, but—"

"No, that's good! Could you and Tara do that? Get me in there? Like, in his head? Or if not someone else, could you send one or both of _you_? That's an idea, right?"

Willow shrugged noncommitally. "In theory? Definitely. But that kind of spell is kind of abstract—tricky. I-I don't think we're there yet. I mean we could try, but..."

"It would be dangerous," Tara filled in. "Probably _too_ dangerous; there would be too much of a risk of us doing something wrong and causing real damage to his mind, or possibly even to his physical brain—damage he couldn't come back from."

Xander crossed his arms where he leaned against the wall by the chairs only half of them were using. "But what if there's no other way?" he asked quietly.

Willow glanced up, eyebrows raised. "Hey, Tara and I aren't the only two of a kind here."

"Huh?"

Angel's head came up where he sat. "She has a point. We could find someone who _can_ do it."

Xander blinked. "Like another witch?"

"Yeah."

"Whoa, okay, _so_ not where I was going with that!"

Anya shrugged. "It's the only logical course of action." Her voice lowered and she grumbled, "Of course if I still had my powers and someone made a wish, I could do it myself."

Buffy was already nodding. "As much as I don't really like trusting anyone we don't know, I don't see what choice we have. Unless there are any other ideas?" Silence reigned for a long moment. "Right," she sighed. "I was afraid of that. Angel...?"

He was already standing. "I called Wes and Cordy from the apartment before I left; they'll be up and waiting for news on Giles anyway. I'll get them started going through our contacts. I know a few witches myself, but if none of them can do it, one of them'll know where to find someone who can."

"Good."

He paused a moment before going. "So we need someone who can get you into Giles's head?" he asked, just to clarify.

"That would be the general idea, yeah. Convincing him the dream is just a dream is the only way we know for sure to get him to wake up."

Angel nodded once and disappeared to look for a phone, and Buffy let out a breath and sat back in her chair. "I hate this," she mumbled. With a hopeful solution to the mystical problem in the works, her mind returned to the much more physical, and she couldn't help but remember that the progress she and the others had made in the conversation they'd just had would all be for naught if Giles wasn't alive tomorrow. Likely it would take that long to get someone here who could help them.

With her friends gathered around her, taking as much comfort from that as she could, Buffy rested her head back against the wall and did the only thing she could do—wait.

_Just hang on, Giles. I'm coming. As soon as I can._

* * *

It was another whole day before Giles was released from the hospital, and even then his doctor wasn't entirely happy to let him go. It was late afternoon, and moving was slow, and besides the sling he felt stiff under his clothes with his ribs firmly wrapped and bandages around his shoulder to cover the wound there, but he was glad to be out of that blasted hospital bed. Willow and Tara were with him when he checked out, and even though his right arm worked just fine they wouldn't even let him carry the bag they'd brought him his clothes in.

He knew it would be useless to protest, so he didn't, and he waited until they'd paced—slowly, thanks to him—away from the front desk, to ask after Xander. Neither of them had said much of anything since they'd appeared not long ago.

Willow shrugged miserably. "I uh...we went back late last night, after we ate, to try to get Anya to eat something too, maybe sleep some. She finally did a little of both and then...well, Xander was awake for a few minutes there, but they're telling us that still doesn't mean much at this point."

"Could he speak?" Giles questioned gently.

Willow blinked back sudden tears and looked away. "A little. He...he said he loved us. All of us, but..." She trailed off, unable to continue, and as Giles felt his own throat clogging Tara finished for her, her quiet voice nearly inaudible.

"He said he thinks he's going to follow Buffy soon," she whispered.

"'Been doing it for years,' he said. 'Why stop now?'" Willow cried quietly. "And he smiled. He hasn't opened his eyes at all since then."

Giles swallowed. "Where is he?" he managed finally.

"We'll bring you there," Tara offered.

He nodded, and silently followed the two young witches toward the elevators.

Xander had been hurt before—knocked in the head as Giles himself was prone to have happen, or otherwise injured. He'd been in the hospital before. All of them had. But never like this. As tall as he was, he managed to look small in the bed, to almost blend with it as white as he was. He was clad only in the pants of a set of patient scrubs, the sheets pulled up only just shy of his waist, and his arms and torso were nearly covered in the bandages over the wounds.

If Dagkel had been given only seconds more to cause damage, Xander too would have been dead there on the floor of the warehouse.

Part of Giles wondered if that might have been better.

_No_, he thought immediately. _There's still a chance he might live._

That had to be something.

He could only think that if Buffy were here, she would be searching high and low for another way to help than just waiting. Not knowing. It wouldn't change the fact that there _was_ nothing to be done, but she would look anyway.

Because she'd loved Xander. Loved all of them. That much Giles knew no matter how much she wasn't the type to say such things often.

And he loved them all, too. That was why it hurt to be here, at Xander's bedside, seeing Anya in a nearly catatonic state across from him and knowing that if he hadn't been injured and trapped in a hospital room of his own it would have been himself in that chair for the past two days.

_The family you built, Buffy—what's to become of it now?_

"Anya...?"

She blinked and looked up, and then her eyebrows climbed a bit in recognition of his presence, but at first she didn't say anything. She resumed gazing at Xander.

"It's not right, you know," she said eventually. "I should have known better than to date a human. They can't heal themselves. They can't even teleport themselves out of danger to avoid injury in the first place. Then things like this happen, and..." She trailed off, her usual frankness giving way to the rarely seen true emotion. "And then it hurts."

Giles didn't sense Willow or Tara behind him, and realized they must have let him come in alone. He and Anya were alone for now, with Xander, and he wondered if Anya had voiced these thoughts to anyone else. Something told him she hadn't.

"It's one of many imperfect things about being what we are," he answered, the truth weighing heavily on him. "It's part of what _makes _us human, I suppose. Mortality." He fell silent for a moment. "But no...that doesn't keep it from hurting to be reminded."

Anya shrugged, and after another moment she spoke again. He didn't think she'd really listened to him, but the fact that she'd spoken to him even as deeply as she just had was more than he'd expected. Still, he worried for her. "He'll wake up again. He will. I mean, he has to. And I'll be here when he does. I'll stay right here. That's tradition, isn't it? If it were me he'd be doing the same."

The corner of Rupert's mouth twitched up. "Of course he would."

When it became clear that was all Anya had to say, he focused on Xander again himself. With both of the boy's shoulders covered in bandages he wouldn't have wanted to put a hand there, so instead Giles rested a hand on Xander's head and fervently wished it wouldn't be the last time.

He would have been content to stand there that way for as long as he could, but there was a chair—one Willow had been using, more than likely. Anya stayed where she was, holding Xander's hand. Giles sat too, because he had nowhere else to go, and when he found himself absently stroking the boy's hair, he didn't stop himself.

Willow and Tara came in again, after a while, but Rupert didn't move. At one point, he thought he saw Xander open his eyes and blearily look at them all, just for a moment. He thought perhaps he'd even seen a small smile like the one Willow said he'd given the day before. But Giles was very tired, and he'd been drifting off, and later he couldn't remember whether or not he'd imagined it.

He chose to believe it had happened, because when Xander died the next morning he wanted the memory to be real.


	11. Chapter 11

Aha! For once I have the chance to get another chapter up two days later! Yay! I love free weekends. Okay, _please still review_ though! Thanks so much to all of ya'll who have been! :)

NOTE: I am gonna go ahead with the post-Becoming Part 2 AU Giles fic thing, once this story is done. It won't be too much longer, either. And yes, since it's AU it will still include Buffy even though it's post Bp2. So I hope you enjoy the rest of this story, and then there will be that. I don't have a title yet. I'll mention it when I have one, so ya'll will know what to look for. :) Okay, have a great rest of the weekend!

Chapter 11

By the time Giles was in the taxi the next day, finally leaving the hospital, that morning and the rest of the previous night were all but a blur in his memory and yet so much sharper than he wanted them to be. He'd never made in home that night. He, Anya, Willow, and Tara had stayed at the hospital again. At one point he and Tara had both made it out to the waiting room to stretch out between the padded armless chairs for some sleep, leaving the extra bed in Xander's room for Willow and Anya, who refused go any farther from him unless they had no choice.

It was morning by the time everything went wrong. Giles remembered waking, checking up on the girls and Xander, and going in search of food and coffee. The coffee was a necessary evil, as exhausted as he'd been still.

By the time he'd made it back as far as the waiting room, all three of the young women were there, upset because they'd been kicked out of the room. Something was wrong, and it never got better.

Minutes later, Xander had slipped away.

Giles's eyes closed at the fresh memory, and he took a deep breath to steady himself. He wasn't going to make a scene here; it would hardly do to alarm the poor taxi driver.

He'd had no other ride home. Riley was still missing, along with his vehicle, and the others had gone their own ways after that morning's shock. He could still see it all...hear it ringing in his ears—Anya's loud disbelief, followed by the subsequent breakdown, Willow's own crying that had quickly turned to anger that she'd taken out in screaming at Xander's parents when they finally showed their faces a little too late, just back from being out of town. They'd been called more than two days before.

When the doctor had emerged into the waiting room and given Willow and, as a result, the rest of them the news, Rupert had wanted nothing more than to crumple into an insensible heap and do nothing at all but deny the truth, but he would never have that luxury. Not as the adult. Not as a Watcher. No, it was rather the point of his very existence to deal with reality.

He'd done everything he could to comfort Anya and diffuse Willow, but not even Tara had had much luck with the latter, and had apologized and followed when her redheaded girlfriend stormed out of the hospital. Giles had wanted to follow, but there was nothing he could do to help Willow that Tara couldn't do. So he'd stayed, tried to talk to the Harrises. They all but ignored him.

At least they had the decency to seem upset. At least Xander's mother cried. Some. From what he knew of them, Giles was almost surprised.

With the Harrises present to take care of the technicalities, Giles was free to stay with Anya until she was calm enough to speak again. He'd held her until she sat up and swiped at her face to dry the tears.

"No. This is stupid."

It was all she'd said, and then she'd left. Giles had tried to stop her, offered to accompany her back to her apartment to drop her off, if she wanted to go home, asked if there were anything he could do...but she'd declined, and fled much in the same upset fashion Willow had.

Then he had been alone.

Giles didn't really know what to do with himself then. Willow and Tara had brought him his wallet with his clothes, so he called a taxi and headed miserably home.

But first, he knew, he had a stop to make.

The first day in the hospital he had been too drugged to do much of anything beyond be barely consious at times, and so it had been Willow and Tara to go to the Summers home to tell Joyce what had happened. Giles wished he could have spared them that duty, but he supposed they had been right to do it then. It wouldn't have been right to wait to tell Joyce just so he could be the one to do it. It wouldn't have been fair to her.

Still, he was worried about her. He hadn't seen her at all. Willow had mentioned she'd come to the morgue that first day, but had been holed up at home since. That was where Giles was going now.

He told the taxi just to wait, at first. He didn't even know if Joyce would come to the door. It took longer than usual, but she did, and she opened it.

"Rupert..." She looked so tired.

He swallowed. "Joyce, I...I'm so sorry. I would have come myself sooner, but—"

"You were in the hospital too. I know," she finished, glancing at the sling. She still did not invite him in. She crossed her arms, holding them tight against herself as if that alone might keep her from falling or simply dying, right then and there. He knew the feeling. "H-how is...?"

Giles realized he must not have been able to keep a straight face, because she trailed off and her eyebrows went up in alarm.

"Oh no..."

Rupert had to take a deep breath before he could say anything. "It...it was a few hours ago. This morning. He just—there was...simply too much damage, we were told," he grimaced.

Her eyes fell, and Joyce pulled one arm free just enough to clutch the edge of the open door and lean on it heavily. "Oh god..."

He waited for a moment, before he said anything else. "Joyce...is there anything I can do?" he asked gently. She shook her head, still not looking at him, and he hesitated. "Are you sure?"

She looked up then, suddenly, and her eyes were damp as her jaw clenched. "I'm sure. Please just go."

Giles opened his mouth, certain there was something else he could say, or _should_ say, but all that came out was, "I'm sorry..."

Joyce looked at him for a moment, and as she did he couldn't tell if she hated him. "I know," she said finally. "I am too." Then she shut the door. Rupert stared at it for a moment, and then trudged back to the taxi. There was no one left, and nowhere left to go but home.

He couldn't feel anything, for the short ride to his apartment from the Summers house. He couldn't feel anything as he paid the taxi driver and shuffled inside, closing the door behind him to shut out the rest of the world. He couldn't feel anything as he took in the fact that his place was clean, as he realized that the gang must have disposed of the demon bodies and straightened up whatever had been mussed in the fight.

Giles couldn't feel anything at all until his eyes fell on the legal pad that still sat on his desk. The half-empty cup of tea he'd left beside it had been, he supposed, emptied and washed and put away. It wasn't there, but the pad of paper was. His notes for Buffy's new training schedule were still outlined there, his own words glaring at him in ugly reminder that they were useless now.

It led to thought—thought he didn't want to deal with right now. He remembered that Buffy and Xander must have been among those to help with the cleaning and straightening they had all done in here. He remembered that Buffy would have been starting her sophmore year of college at UC Sunnydale in a few short weeks. It was Monday, and he remembered that Xander would have been getting up this morning to go to work at his construction job, more than likely grumbling about going back after a relaxing weekend.

Rupert could see them both—Buffy just after she'd stood up to Dracula, proud and strong, and her smile after she'd asked him to act as her Watcher again. He could see Xander rushing into the main room of Dracula's castle, complaining about how he'd been used and firmly asserting that he was through being the 'butt-monkey.' He'd smiled at both, later if not then. They were both so unique, so much a part of what his life was now. He wondered how he could have considered leaving.

But now they were gone. They would never smile at him again. He would never again have the chance to roll his eyes at their antics and use his British-ness to act as if he didn't love every moment of it. Of them.

Giles didn't know he'd moved at all until he realized he was on his knees beside the desk. The empty duffel bag Willow and Tara had brought him his clothes in was clutched in his hands, and he tossed it away angrily. He snatched the yellow pad from the top of the desk and ripped out the pages he'd been writing just a few days before. He tore them to shreds and threw the pad as far as it's light weight would take it, and it landed out of sight on the other side of couch.

By then he was sobbing.

He'd come up off his knees some when he'd thrown the legal pad, and now Rupert sank back down again to sit on his ankles. He leaned heavily on the side of the desk and cried brokenly, because his world was coming apart at the seams.

* * *

It was late afternoon, and they had heard nothing from LA. Wesley and Cordelia were having no luck yet in using Angel's contacts to find someone who could help. Buffy's mother had brought them all something to eat to prevent the necessity of leaving the hospital or eating its cafeteria food, but beyond that the only good thing that had happened all day was Giles's doctor finally allowing them to see him.

Apparently it had been rather touch-and-go all day, but the man was finally able to tell them that he was relatively sure the ex-librarian was going to pull through all right, as far as staying alive went. He still had no explanation for the coma-like state, but of course he wouldn't.

They all went in to see Giles, but Buffy was the one to stay longer than the others. With nothing else to do but the waiting and the worrying, it was at least just a little comforting being able to sit by his bed and assure herself he was alive. He was cut and bruised, and she could see the outline of the many bandages under the hospital gown when he breathed, but he was breathing. He had some of his color back too, thanks to the IVs.

She wasn't sure how long she was there. The others came and went, but she wasn't inclined to move until Riley whispered from the door and beckoned her out into the hallway. He led her back to the waiting room, where Angel was waiting with the others. He looked like he had news.

"Anything?" Buffy asked eagerly.

Angel nodded, and smiled a little. "Yea. Wesley found someone. Strangely enough it wasn't through one of _my_ contacts, but he and Cordy have someone."

Her hand had slipped into Riley's, and she breathed a sigh of relief and squeezed it happily. "Thank god. Who?" The others didn't start jumping in with questions along with her; he must have told them already while she was off in worried la-la land. Now that she thought about it, she was pretty sure she'd drifted off once or twice too. No sleep in 36 hours or so could do that to a person.

God, had it really only been that long?

Yeah. That was all it had been. It was only the morning before that they'd found Giles's trashed apartment.

Angel shrugged. "Like I said, it wasn't my contact. I don't know her. Wes said she's someone he ran into briefly back in his 'rogue demon hunter' days," he answered, smirking in amusement.

"His _what_?" Xander demanded.

Buffy's eyebrows went up. "I'm echoing that with a serious _huh_?"

"Right, you didn't hear about that, did you? Immediately post-Sunnydale and post-getting-sacked-by-the-Watchers'-Council. Long story." The ensouled vampire looked thoughtful for a moment. "Then again, not that long actually."

She shook her head. "Never mind. I don't want to know."

"You really don't. Leather was involved."

"Oh god, _stop_. Now," she insisted, holding up both hands. Willow was smirking, Xander was looking as disgusted as she felt, and Tara and Anya were just lost. "Okay, so what's the sitch on this witch?" she said then, eager to move on with the conversation.

"Wesley ran into her again looking for one of my contacts, and it seems he actually did manage to help her once. She owes him, and she's agreed to help. She can get you into Giles's head, like you wanted. I'm going back to LA tonight to pick her up. I'll have her here by morning."

Buffy let out a breath. "Thank you."

"No problem."

She smirked a little. "No, seriously. I was _this_ close to considering finding _Ethan_."

"Which would have been difficult, considering I have no idea what the hell the military did with him," Riley supplied.

She shrugged. "Well he would have done it once I'd slapped him around a little, but that was a bad plan anyway. Scratch that now."

Xander rolled his eyes. "Gee, ya think?"

"_Any_way, we've got this...whoever she is," Buffy concluded. She looked to Angel again. "If you're going to be back by morning, I guess that means we get to it as soon as visiting hours start."

Angel nodded. "We'll be here."

She nodded back, and then scanned the faces around her. "Okay guys...there's really nothing else we can do. I think we'd all better go home and try to get some rest tonight."

"And we'll all be back bright and early tomorrow morning," Willow confirmed. "Tara and I'll be ready to lend any magical support that may be needed. Right, Tara?"

"Of course," Tara agreed. "I wish we could do more, but...yeah. Definitely."

"Thank you guys."

Xander caught her arm. "Hey. You're gonna go home and sleep like the rest of us, yes?"

"_Yes_," she assured him. "I promise."

Or she would try, anyway. Maybe Giles was mostly out of physical danger for the time being, but she knew what Sohlehk's power could do. She'd been there. Maybe her Watcher's nightmare was completely different, but she knew it wouldn't be pretty. Not with _his_ past. She couldn't stop worrying about what was going on in there. She hated it.

But she would go home, and she would try to sleep, because there was nothing she could do until tomorrow morning. She would do it because of that, and because she knew her friends wanted her too. Buffy knew that back at the house, her mother would also insist on it.

She would try to rest, because she knew Giles would want that too.

* * *

Buffy's mother and Xander's parents had never spoken much to each other, but somehow they managed to come together well enough to plan a funeral for their children. The service would be held together; it seemed the only right thing to do. Of course, the Harrises didn't know what had really happened. They were told the deaths were related to gang violence.

Giles wanted to help, but none of them wanted anything to do with him. He supposed he deserved that.

He'd failed, and they were dead.

Riley reappeared just in time to learn of the funeral date, and to be there. He never explained where he'd gone, and he informed them all that he had been taken back onto a military team—another operation involved in keeping demon populations under control, but one without the Initiative's shady motives. The government—or what of it that knew anything about the supernatural at all—was being much more careful about things this time.

Riley was leaving Sunnydale after the funeral.

With his arm still in a sling, Giles couldn't drive. Willow and Tara picked him up that morning. The service was held at a small church by the cemetary where Xander's parents occassionally attended when they were on a kick for pretending they were decent people.

Anya was not there. _She_ had not reappeared.

With none of the damage to Xander's body evident on his face or hands, open-casket was still possible for both of them. There had been visitation at the funeral home for both Buffy and Xander the previous day, but the caskets were closed now, for the service. Giles tried not to think about the day before—the last time he had seen either of their faces. The last time he ever would. He'd squeezed Xander's hand for a moment, and kissed Buffy's cheek.

But Eyghon had been wrong. He didn't cry at every funeral. He didn't cry at this one.

He didn't think he had anything left in him to be able to do it.

He felt numb again; the only spark of anything he felt when the caskets were lowered into the ground—when he realized it was over. No more ceremony, no more nothing. Life when on. It went on without Buffy Summers, and it went on without Xander Harris. _His_ life would go on without them, and without Riley Finn or Joyce Summers, either, with the former leaving and the latter who wouldn't look at him anymore. It was beginning to look like it might go on without Anya, too. He thought he saw something out of the corner of his eye as he left the cemetary with Willow and Tara, something that might have been her, but when he turned there was nothing.

Willow had been borrowing one of her parents' vehicles, and she and Tara brought him home. Tara said goodbye in the car, and waited while Willow walked him inside. She didn't leave right away; instead she lingered inside, and shut the door behind her.

"Giles..."

He was getting his coat off, and she helped, and hung it up by the door for him.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome. Look, I just...I know I probably should have waited a little longer to bring this up, but...it's just that I hate seeing you so miserable, especially when I'm already miserable too, and..."

"Willow, what is it?" he asked gently.

She sighed. "It's just that...I know you were planning on going back to England before, and...if you still want to do that, it's okay. I mean, _we'll_ be okay. I still hold to the I'll-miss-you-like-hell thing, but, you know, just in case you were thinking about it, I want you to know that you don't have to stay here just for me, or anyone else."

Giles winced, and leaned on the back of the couch as he looked at her. "Well...thank you. I appreciate the sentiment, but..." He trailed off for a moment, trying to frame his thoughts. "In all likelihood I will still go back, at some point. I'm just not certain I'm ready to do that yet."

She blinked at him. "Oh..." She grimaced. "Giles..."

He looked at her, waiting.

Willow swallowed. "Well, you see...Tara and I are...we're thinking about leaving, actually," she said, staring at her hands as they twisted together in front of her. "I mean there's not a whole lot left here for us anymore. Buffy and you and Xander and the good fight and all were the only reasons I didn't go off to some fancy college elsewhere anyway. Tara's smart too; she could get into all of those places, and...we're thinking about transferring. At least for a while. I think we just need to...get away."

Giles's eyebrows went up. "But...Sunnydale..."

"I know, but Spike's still around. He's got that chip in his head and demons and stuff are the only things he can kill, and remember he helped Buffy save the world when Angelus wanted to end it. Something about he likes the world _existing_, at least, so he's not gonna let it end. I mean, not that I like him or anything, but I think Sunnydale will be okay for a little while without the rest of us. Maybe it'll be all right _period_. And hey, if anything too big comes up the new Slayer would come deal with it, right?"

He let out a breath. "Yes, well, I suppose so. You may be right." Shaky logic, perhaps, but she was right. That, and he supposed she should be forgiven for any not-quite-solid thinking at this point, with two of her best friends gone. He couldn't blame her for wanting to leave Sunnydale far behind.

Willow shrugged. "Hey, you know...I got accepted to Oxford way back when, remember? Heck, we could _all_ go to England."

Rupert's mouth quirked up a little at that. "I suppose we could. I don't believe the others would have appreciated it much, but I'm fairly certain you and Tara would like it."

"Yeah, see? Maybe it's a plan. The beginnings of a plan, anyway."

He allowed himself to think about it for a moment—going back to England, but not alone. Going with what friends he had left. Then he had to plant himself back in reality.

"I can't, Willow," he sighed. "I can't leave Sunnydale; at least not yet. I'm not even sure there _will_ be a new Slayer. If it's true that, as there is only _meant_ to be one, there can only be one _recognized _Slayer, then the only transferable mantle may have been passed on to Kendra, and then to Faith. There may be no other Slayer. If that's true, then...well, Spike or no Spike it is still my duty to guard this hellmouth whether I am still emplyed by the Watchers' Council or not."

Willow's eyes widened. "Oh, wow. Really? I didn't even think about that. Well..." She shifted uncomfortably. "Maybe we should just stay; you know we can help..."

Giles shook his head. "It's my duty, not yours. Buffy was always grateful for your help, as was I, but you have your entire life ahead of you. So does Tara. If the two of you feel that the rest of yours would be better spent elsewhere, then I encourage you to go. As you were trying to say to me, don't let me or anything else hold you back."

She looked at him for a long moment, eyes misting over. But before she could say anything else, a figure suddenly morphed into solid form by the door.

"Good. You're here. I didn't want to make more than one trip anyway."

Rupert stared, and Willow had to twist around to see who stood there now.

"Anya?" they questioned together.

The apparently not-quite-so-ex-anymore vengeance demon crossed her arms and shrugged. "Yeah. I got my old job back. Finally. I didn't want you people freaking yourselves out looking for me, so I figured I'd better let you know. You don't have to look for me; I'm leaving."

"But...but Anya, why would you become a _demon_ again?" Willow gasped.

"Don't worry; I won't ever come anywhere near Sunnydale again. You can count on _that_. You won't have to worry about me."

Giles swallowed, and grimaced as he felt an almost surprising amount of sudden remorse. He should have looked harder for her. He should have prevented this. His chest ached. "Anya...why?" he said, voicing Willow's question again, because it had not been answered. "You know—" His voice stuck, and he had to try again. "You know Xander wouldn't want this."

She glared at him. "That's why I'm going to stay out of his town, remember? No maiming or mangling or death here. Not from me."

"He wouldn't want you to do it _anywhere_!" Willow protested.

Anya uncrossed her arms, fists clenched. "I don't care! I couldn't be human anymore, okay! I didn't have powers, I couldn't do anything else, so all I could do was _hurt_, and I couldn't take it!" Her expression softened, just for a moment. "Look, I'm sorry, okay? I'm...I'm sorry. Goodbye."

Then she disappeared.

"Anya!" Giles called. Willow echoed with "Wait!" but it did no good.

She was gone.

Willow sobbed dryly, and sank in the chair at the desk. "Oh god. It's just...it's gone. Everything." When she looked up her eyes were still wet, but the tears remained captive. "Giles, I can't. I can't stay here," she sobbed quietly. "I have to get out of here."

He sighed, and crouched beside her, having to look up a little at her in the chair. "Then go," he said gently. "I'll be here, for now, and if circumstances allow and I do go anywhere I promise to let you know. But you and Tara should go, if you must."

He tried not to let her see how much it hurt to say it, when he realized saying it meant he would be truly alone, if they left. But he loved them, and he wouldn't hold them back. Self-sacrifice; it was the part of life that Watcher and Slayer shared.

Willow sobbed again and hugged him hard. Giles ignored the pain, and let her. He returned the embrace as best he could. Then she was gone, and Rupert could only be glad that Buffy wasn't here to see her family unraveling.

_I failed, Buffy, and you can't know how sorry I am. But I won't do it again. If Spike and I, as much as I loathe to include him, are the only things standing between Sunnydale and the darkness, then __so be it. I'll stay here. I'll do this for you._

* * *

Riley picked her up, and he and Buffy met her friends just outside the hospital entrance the next morning. They went in together. Angel was already there, with a middle-aged but good-looking woman Buffy had never seen before. Just like Willow and Tara, she looked no different than anyone else but for a quiet strength that seem to radiate from her—a certain confidence, and a spark in her eyes.

Angel saw the Scoobies coming, and nodded at their leader as she approached. "Buffy."

"Hey," she said, smiling softly in thanks. "So this is...?"

"This is Rella," he said. "Rella, this is Buffy Summers. The Slayer."

The dark-haired woman bowed her head in acknowledgement, and when she spoke it was with a very slight accent that Buffy couldn't put a finger on. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Miss Summers. I understand it is your Watcher who is in trouble?"

"Unfortunately, very much yes. Thank you so much for coming out here..."

"It is no trouble. I owe Wesley Wyndam-Pryce my life. True, I am usually more than capable of taking care of myself, but the demon caught me unawares. It does not happen often."

"Wow. And Wesley saved you, huh?" Willow questioned.

"Indeed he did."

"Didn't know the guy had it in him," Xander commented.

Angel chuckled. "There's probably a lot you guys don't know about Wesley."

Buffy shrugged. "I guess that's true, but we can always talk about that later. Right now we need to get Giles out of wherever the hell he is." She glanced around at the nurses on duty this morning. "Rella, what are we going to have to do, exactly? Visiting hours start in a few minutes, and they let us all in at once yesterday, but I'm not sure how well they'd take to spells being performed in their hospital rooms..."

The older woman responded by taking in the faces of the group standing before her, and asking a single question. "Is this everyone who will be coming in with us?"

"It is."

Rella nodded and closed her eyes for a moment, and when she opened them they glowed for a brief second or two. When the light there died away a nurse that had been walking by suddenly paused, as if something were wrong. She looked around curiously for a moment, and seemed to be looking right through the Scooby Gang and their two visitors. Then she shrugged and continued on her way.

"None of them can see us now. If they saw us before they do not remember we were ever here. Whatever rules there may be here, they do not matter now; we will not be disturbed until we have finished."

Willow and Tara glanced at each other, and then looked back at the older witch in awe. "Wow," Willow murmured.

Rella smiled at them. "You must be the two adepts Angel mentioned on our way here. Willow and Tara, isn't it?" They both stuttered out affirmatives, and Willow was the one who managed to continue past that.

"We uh...well now I'm sure you can handle it on your own—I mean, why would you be here if you couldn't, and all, anyway—but we were going to ask if we could, you know...help, or...something."

She looked at them for a moment, contemplating. "You're right in that I will not need any help, but I will let the two of you join in a circle with me, to offer support to the spell. I do not have the time to stay here long to teach you anything myself, but perhaps you can learn something from what I am going to do now."

"That would be great!"

"Thank you, so much," Tara echoed.

Xander grinned. "Don't fangirl _too_ hard, Will. You might scare the lady off."

"Okay, guys," Buffy admonished. "Come on. Time for seriousness."

"You got it, Buff," Xander agreed. The others nodded with him.

Rella nodded too, once, and motioned to the hallway that led to the patient rooms. "Yes, please. Lead the way."

Buffy took a deep breath and did just that.


	12. Chapter 12

Here ya go! :) And just so you know, this isn't thew end. I have at least one more chapter up my sleeve, so please do review so I'll be happy and post it soon. ;) LOL. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the rest of the story. Good night for now!

NOTE: I'm thinking the name if the post-Becoming Part 2 AU is going to be titled "Still Here" so ya'll can look for that soon-ish. Later!

Chapter 12

With Rella's spell protecting them, Buffy led Angel and the witch and her friends straight to Giles's room unimpeded. She went to her Watcher's bedside, where the chair she'd been using the afternoon before still sat.

"What now?" she asked, glancing back at Rella.

The older woman took in the room and the patient and the chair where it stood, and she motioned everyone but Willow and Tara to the far side of the room, out of the way. "Sit, and take his hand," she said to Buffy. "Since it is not myself going into his mind, there needs to be a physical connection between the two of you to direct the spell."

Buffy did as she was told. She sat, slid the chair as close as it would go and took Giles's hand in both of hers. The IV was in the other one, so there was nothing stopping her from holding tightly. She watched as Rella, Willow, and Tara took hands and stood in a small circle a few feet away, with Rella facing the bed and Slayer and Watcher. The older witch smiled gently at Buffy.

"I am ready. Are you?"

"As I'll ever be."

"It may be disorienting. There is no transition. You are here, and then you will be there. In all probability it will seem just as real as this world."

The Slayer nodded in understanding. "How do I get back out?"

"I will know when to pull you out. I'll sense that you want it to be done."

"Okay; sounds good." She cast a look around the room at the rest of her friends. "Wish me luck?"

Xander pumped a fist. "Knock 'em dead! Or, you know, not really. We kinda need him."

Buffy chuckled once. "I know what you mean."

"Bring him back," Willow said quietly, echoing all of their thoughts.  
"I'm not coming out until Giles comes with me." She looked back to Rella. "Start your engines; let's do this thing."

The woman nodded, and closed her eyes. Willow and Tara closed their in response, and Buffy thought she saw a crackle of energy begin at Rella's hands and travel through the other two young witches. She didn't watch long enough to know; she straightened in her chair to look at Giles—

And then she was standing in the loft in his apartment.

Buffy scowled, blinking in confusion as she turned a circle or two to confirm where she was. The familiar setting of Giles's home made some sense, if his nightmare was semi-realistic as hers had been. She assumed the spell had simply put her wherever Giles was in this world, because that would be the only thing that made sense, and she spun again to find him.

He wasn't up here.

Then why was she in the loft? She never came up here. All that was up here was the bedroom, of sorts, for the apartment.

Then she heard the door open downstairs.

Buffy took a quick step toward the stairs, but paused. Maybe there was a reason she was up here. Whether Rella, or her own subconsious, or the spell itself had done it and set her down here, she realized the advantage of being up here. She could both hear and see what was going on downstairs before she confronted Giles. She could see how he was doing, get a feel for just what kind of nightmare he was being forced to live here—get an idea of how to snap him out of it.

She sank to her knees and crawled quietly to the railing around the edge of the loft, sliding into a corner beside a dresser to be certain she could see down, but no one could see her. For now, anyway.

It wasn't only Giles coming in; someone was _bringing_ him in, using their shoulders as support to keep the Watcher on his feet. They were both carrying weapons—vampire and demon slaying weapons—which they promptly dropped onto the top of Giles's weapons chest at the back of the couch as Giles pulled away and leaned on the couch itself to go around it and drop onto it. His companion snorted and walked around to stare at him, and that was when the confused denial gave way and Buffy had to realize that it was Spike.

"You know, I'm all for the killing things _and_ for the drinking, might I add, but the former might be a little easier if you weren't perpetually hung over and _getting in my way_," the vampire grumbled loudly.

Giles grimaced and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Yes, and I might not need to drink so much if _you_ weren't the only one left with which to go out killing things. I don't know why I even bother to let you help; it's _my_ duty, but it's not yours."

"_I _do it because it's _fun_, and you don't _let_ me help. I do it because I _want_ to, you couldn't stop me if you tried, and since we usually happen to be in the same place, I might as well make sure you don't get yourself killed."

"I can't imagine why you care."

"I don't, see, and don't you forget it. I still hate you just like I did the rest of them. But with the Slayer and her little groupies out of the picture, I need to keep _somebody_ around I can kill once I get this sodding chip out of my head," Spike huffed, blowing useless steam as always.

_Out of the picture?_ Buffy wondered, suddenly feeling sick to her stomach. Where had all of them gone? Were she and the others _all _dead here?

Downstairs, Giles shook his head and staggered back to his feet. He went straight for the alcohol bottles on the counter, and snatched a clean glass that was already sitting there with them. "If you're done mouthing off for tonight, would you please get out of my apartment?" he muttered tiredly.

Spike stared at his back for a moment, and then shrugged. "Whatever. Drink yourself to death; I don't care," he said tersely, heading for the door.

"I thought you wanted to kill me once you were able? If that ever happens," Giles answered without turning. He'd managed to pour what Buffy thought was scotch into the glass, and he drank, seeming unconcerned with if Spike replied again.

The vampire spun back, hand on the door knob. "Yeah, I thought so too, but now that I think about it, it probably wouldn't be any fun anymore. You're too bloody pathetic." Then Spike flung open the door and stormed out into the night.

Buffy watched Giles stare at the door, and when it didn't close on its own he shuffled over to it, under the loft and out of her line of sight. She heard the door click as it was closed, and a moment later there was a soft thump. She could hear him breathing heavily, as if trying not to cry.

She bit back tears of her own and quietly came down from the loft. When she stepped silently off of the stairs she could see her Watcher sitting on the ground against the door. He'd finished off what was in the glass in his hand, and he held it empty as he stared into nothing.

_Oh god, Giles, what happened here?_

She didn't know she'd sobbed until he looked up.

Giles went white, and the glass fell from his hand and shattered on the floor. "B-Buffy...?"

"Giles—" She started toward him, but he clamored to his feet and backed clumsily away. "Giles, it's okay. It's me. Listen, this—"

But he wasn't listening. His eyes wide, he pulled his glasses from his face and left them on the counter as he went quickly around to put it between them. "No. No no no, this isn't—"

"Giles!" He looked up, leaning heavily on the counter, and she paused on the other side. "Stop it. Just...whatever you're thinking, stop. Right now. I am not a hallucination, or a ghost, or whatever the hell else you might think I am, okay? This is serious, and you need to listen to me." He squinted, but he didn't protest. Encouraged, Buffy took a breath and went on. "Look, remember Sohlehk?"

Giles snorted miserably. "I remember him killing you."

Buffy opened her mouth, but nothing came out at first. Her throat already hurt from holding back the tears—holding back how much it hurt to see Giles like this—and the confirmation of what she'd feared din't help any. "I—Giles...no. Listen, it didn't happen, okay? I-I'm not dead. I'm fine. This is all a nightmare, Giles. Sohlehk did the same thing to you that he did to me."

He blinked once or twice at her, not comprehending.

"We're in your head. This isn't real. Angel...he's in Sunnydale. He had Wesley track down a witch with enough power to send me in here after you. I don't know how long it's been in here, but it's old been a couple of days in the real world. And everything's okay there, I promise."

Giles looked away and swallowed, and his face drew into a reserved calm, as if he'd realized something. "I wish that were true," he murmured softly. "But this is just another dream."

"No it's not! You're trapped in here, and you need to snap out of it. We need you out there."

He wouldn't quite looking at her. "Even if it _were_ true, you don't need me. Me...I only wanted to be needed."

Buffy stared at him. "Giles...I asked you to be my Watcher again. I wouldn't have done that without a reason."

"You were frightened; that was the reason. I'm sure you would have been all right on your own, if you had to be. You would have found the answers you wanted with or without me. You hadn't needed me in some time. You would have been fine."

She shook her head and leaned into her side of the counter as she looked at him. "No...I wouldn't have. Yeah, sure, I'm looking forward to having your help figuring this stuff out, but I don't just want the help. I want _you_, Giles. I want you _here_. You're my _Watcher_, no matter what the damn Council says. I need you."

He looked at her, and his eyes were damp. "It doesn't matter. You're not really here, and I'll wake up soon. I always do."

Buffy let out a breath in frustration. "God! Giles, did you not hear a word I just said? This is_ me_. I'm _real_." She stalked around into the kitchen and grabbed his arm. "You want proof? See? _Real_. Now can we please get out of here?"

Giles jerked away, backing into the only wall the kitchen had that wasn't blocked by appliances or the counter or cut away by the door. He bumped into it and stayed there, wide-eyed. "N-no, you're not..."

"Please don't use the but-you-can-touch-things-in-dreams-cause-after-all-they're-dreams-and-that-doesn't-prove-anything excuse. Cause yeah, this _is_ a dream. It's a nightmare. It's the nightmare Sohlehk put you in, and I'm here to get you out," she shot back, hands on hips.

He swallowed, staring at her in confusion. "No, I...I don't understand. The demon never touched me—not with his...whatever it was, the energy..."

"The nightmare probably rearranged itself so you wouldn't remember that part, or something, since that would have given it away seeing as you already knew what that weird crap of his could do thanks to his doing it to _me_. But I promise you, Giles, that this is _not_ real. You're in the hospital, and the doctors think you're in a coma. You need to wake up."

Giles sank to the floor, staring at nothing again as he tried to sort through it all. "But...it's been months. It's...real. You and Xander...you're dead. The others are gone. They left. It's been _months_..."

Buffy grimaced, and her throat was suddenly clogged. Xander too? And the others...God, had it really been that bad? "No, Giles. It's hasn't even been two days," she said unsteadily.

He was breathing hard again, confused, and he flinched when she knelt beside him. "It's okay..."

His head shook. "No...it happened. Y-you died. I failed..."

"You didn't. I'm right here, Giles," she said gently, taking his hands and squeezing. "I'm okay, and you can come back with me. We need you to wake up; we _need_ you. _I_ need you..."

Giles only stared. He squeezed back as if he wanted to believe, but it was clear he wasn't there yet. What he said was, "I've missed you..."

"In my dream, _you_ died," she told him shakily. "I missed you too." She swallowed. "Look, I know this is hard to understand. It took some convincing to make me believe the world was real when _I_ came out of it, too. You were there. You were the one that made me believe it, remember?"

He nodded slowly.

She nodded back. "Good. It's good you remember that much. You have to believe me, Giles. You're trapped like I was, and you're _never_ going to come out of it if you don't believe me. You can't stay here—you don't _want_ to stay here, do you? We're out there, and we're waiting for you, and you have to wake up..." She trailed off, and choked on the lump in her throat as a few of the tears found their way free. "Please. I can't lose you."

That was all she had. She didn't know what else to tell him, and all she could do was look at him pleadingly as he stared back at her.

Finally he sobbed. "Buffy...?"

She nodded. "Yeah..."

And Giles cried. It wasn't the first time she'd seen it, and she did what she'd done the only other time she had. Buffy slid closer and pulled his head to her shoulder and wrapped her arms around him, and she held him. She was there. She cried some too, but she was there.

"I'm sorry..." he sobbed, holding on in return.

"For what? It's okay, Giles. It'll be okay, I promise. Don't be sorry; just wake up—"

And she did.

Buffy sat up wish a gasp, awake though she didn't know any part of her had asked for it.

"Buffy!"

The surprised yelp had come from more than one of her friends, but they weren't who she was worried about at the moment. Her hands were still curled around one of Giles's, and she held one there to squeeze it even as she moved the other to his shoulder and stood up to get a better look at her Watcher's face.

"Giles...?" she asked hopefully.

"What happened?"

"Did it work?"

Buffy shushed the voices behind her when she heard a soft moan, and a moment later Giles moved. Just a little.

Then his eyes flickered open.

"Giles!" She'd leaned in and kissed his brow before she knew she'd decided to, but she was too relieved to be embarrassed. "Thank god! Don't _ever _do that again!"

Giles blinked furiously in confusion for a moment, thrown off by the transition to the real world and the unexpected show of affection besides. "Buffy..."

"I'm right here," she smiled softly. "You're back."

It took another moment, but he focused on her, and when he had—and seemed to finally realize what had just happened—he gave her a tired, thankful smile. She felt him squeeze her hand in return. "Yes...it seems that I am."

"Giles!"

"He's awake!"

"He's okay; it worked!"

That was all the moment they had, before the others swooped in enthusiastically from behind to welcome Giles back, but that was all right.

Giles was here, and he was going to be fine.

There would be time for plenty of other moments later, Buffy thought as she smiled to herself.

That was what mattered.

* * *

"Thanks again, for everything..."

Angel shrugged, hands stuffed in his pockets under his jacket. It was a natural pose for him. He and Buffy had retreated from Giles's room and now stood back in the lobby, alone but for the general bustle around them. She crossed her arms tightly, and he could still see what was left over of her worry for her Watcher.

"Really. If you hadn't been here, I mean...I'm sure we could have found someone with enough mojo to help us get the job done, but it probably would have taken longer, and I don't even want to _think_ about how long that could have been for Giles." She grimaced. "It had already been months for him when I found him. I don't know how many, but still..."

"Buffy," Angel said gently, "He's going to be fine."

She sighed, smiled a little, but then it faded and she shuddered slightly. "I know. It's just...you have no idea what it was like in there. And _yes_, I'm still fine," she added before he could ask.

"Just making sure."

"I know," she answered kindly. The two of them fell into awkward silence for a moment, and Angel wished it didn't have to be like this. He wished it like he knew he always would. But...fate was fate. The future was never certain, but the present was clear.

"Well I think you've pretty much got the general idea on how we are here," Buffy said finally. "What about LA?"

"Not much to tell. We get a case, we solve it, we help people...it's what we do. We're still working out of Cordelia's apartment at the moment, seeing as the old building got blown up, but—"

"_Blown up_?"

"Really long, really confusing story; another one you probably don't want to hear. There's no leather, but there are lawyers." Buffy made an amusing disgusted face that he had to admit was cute, and he laughed once. "Yeah."

She looked at him for a moment. "So I guess you're headed back now, huh?"

"Yeah...put the top and windows up on the car before we came in so we wouldn't have to stick around in your way once we were done here."

"Well you're not in the _way_..."

"I think the new boyfriend would say otherwise."

"You don't have an excuse for not knowing his name anymore, you know."

"Fine, _Riley_ would probably say otherwise. Happy now?"

Buffy shrugged, and because she wasn't quite looking at him he couldn't tell if she was smiling.

He was going to miss her.

Angel heard someone come up from behind him, and turned just in time to see Rella stop at his side. "If you will give me the keys I will bring your car into the shade at the back of the building so that we may be on our way."

"You will, huh?" he asked skeptically.

"Just because I do not own a vehicle at the moment does not mean I am not more than capable of handling one," the witch replied archly.

Unfortunately, there had been no real parking spaces in shade adjacent to the building, and they'd had to assume they would be inside too long to leave a vehicle in an unauthorized place without risking it being towed. As much as he wasn't fond of anyone else driving his car, even across a parking lot, he was going to have no choice in this one.

"Okay," he said reluctantly, pulling the keys from his pocket and reluctantly handing them over. "Just be careful."

Rella rolled her eyes and snatched them from him, before smiling at Buffy and nodding in acknowledgement. "Goodbye, Miss Summers. I hope you and your friends will be well." Buffy thanked the witch again for her services, and Rella strode from the waiting room.

"Interesting, that one," the Slayer observed once the older woman had gone.

"You should have been in the car with her on the way over here." Angel's gaze returned to Buffy, and he sighed. "Guess that's my cue."

"Yeah...guess so."

"Well you know where to find me, you know, if you need anything."

She nodded. "Yes I do." She raised an eyebrow. "You know, a whole lot of crazy crap happens around here; you should tell Cordelia to have visions about us more often."

He chuckled. "I don't think she has any say."

"Still, subliminal messaging...might make a difference."

"I'll have to try that."

Angel took the first step back, even though he didn't want to. "Take care of yourself."

"I will," Buffy said, and the look on her face told him she was grateful for the sentiment. "You too."

He nodded, and after another moment slowly turned and headed for the door. Halfway there he turned back briefly. "And Buffy? The new boyfriend?" She looked at him, eyebrow up again. "I still don't like him." Angel smirked a little, and after a job well done was able to leave with the memory of Buffy laughing behind him as he went.

It was more than he would have dared to hope for, so he wasn't complaining.

* * *

Waking had been more than a little confusing at first, and Giles was still adjusting. The Scoobies had crowded in the moment they were sure he was all right, and Buffy had slipped behind them and disappeared. He'd caught a glimpse of Angel leaving the room, and assumed he'd followed her. If he remembered correctly what Buffy had said, he had the vampire to thank, in part, for Buffy's being able to rescue him.

One of the gang fetched a doctor, and soon the rest of them had been ushered from the room to allow the woman to do her job in checking up on him. By the time she'd assesed what Giles already suspected—that there was no medical explanation for his being awake, but he seemed fine, etc etc—Buffy had reappeared at the door.

"I thought I told the lot of you to leave him alone for a few hours," the doctor scolded as she left. "Mr. Giles still has a good bit of healing to do, and now that he's awake, the last thing he's going to need is stress."

Buffy held up both hands from where she stood just outside the door, being blocked from entering by the stocky woman in front of her. "Hey, not planning to cause any stress here." The doctor stared at her. "I'll just be a minute, I promise."

After another moment the woman "humphed" and moved on, and Buffy slipped into the room.

"Hey. How are you feeling?"

Giles could only shrug with one shoulder, so he didn't bother doing it with either. He was in some pain, but whatever the IVs had been pumping into him besides nutrients was otherwise doing it's job. Still... "I must say I've been better. However, the good doctor there mentioned that I'm expected to make a full recovery now that I am, in fact, awake."

"Yep. That's what they told us, too. Glad of it here, by the way. Anyway, sorry for running out there...you had enough of them coming at you, and I had to see Angel off," she said, coming back to his bedside.

"That's quite all right; I understand."

Buffy nodded once. "So...Rella didn't come out right away. The witch who helped me get in there after you, I mean. Did you get a chance to meet her?"

"I did, briefly. She introduced herself before she left. I might have liked to get to know her a bit better, but apparently she has other business to attend to."

His Slayer shrugged. "Guess so. She was nice, though. She let Willow and Tara in on the spell even though she didn't have to. Oh! My god, did you hear that Wesley actually saved her life and that was why she agreed to help?"

Rupert's eyebrows climbed immediately. "Wesley Wyndam-Pryce?"

"Yep. Good old Wes."

"Huh."

"That was pretty much my reaction."

Neither of them said anything for a moment.

Giles was the one to break the silence. "Buffy, are you all right?" he asked gently.

She winced. "It was only four or five weeks for me, Giles. It was so much longer for you."

"That's not what I asked."

Buffy made another face, and sighed. "I know."

He waited.

Finally she really looked at him. "Giles...I didn't give the others any details either. I'm just really not ready to talk about it, okay?"

Giles would never have pushed too hard in the first place, but in this instance he truly understood. "No...no, I don't suppose I am, either."

Buffy gave a facial shrug, and after only a brief hesitation she took his hand, as she'd had it when he woke. "But hey...everybody's alive, and we're both in the real world now. That's a plus." She smiled. "We'll be okay, right?"

Not everything was worked out yet. There would have to be talking, at some point—more than the words they'd both said when Buffy rescued him from his nightmare, though that had been a good start. But that would come in its own time. For now, though...

Rupert smiled back in answer.

They would be okay.


	13. Chapter 13

Well, this is it. I hope you enjoy the end, and I can't wait to hear what you think. :) Thanks so much for reading and reviewing, all of you!

Also, I just uploaded the first chapter of my new Buffy story last night, and it is title "Still Here" as I said it'd be, so you can go look for it. :) I've only gotten one review, so I wanna hear from ya'll so I know if I should keep going! :) Thanks, and good night. :)

Chapter 13

The next couple of weeks were...something. Buffy was more than glad to be firmly back in the real world and unspeakably relieved that Giles was going to be all right, but reality hit a little hard here and there. She realized fall was here and school was coming, and her training would begin anew sometime soon as well. Once Giles was recovered. Not the idea of training with him wasn't the bad part. In fact, she was looking forward more to that then the school year. It was the he-had-to-recover-first part.

Buffy still hated hospitals, and visiting her Watcher there in the days before he was finally released didn't improve her feelings for them—not when it reminded her of why he was there. Occasionally she couldn't help wishing she'd had more time to really_ hurt _Sohlehk, before she'd killed him. Bit dispatching the threat and getting Giles taken care of had been more important at the time. She didn't regret that, but a girl could fantasize.

Once Giles was home, the Scoobies took shifts keeping an eye on him—when all of them weren't already there at once, anyway. He still needed some taking care of, and they were perfectly willing to do it. The only thing Buffy had a problem with was seeing him hurting and knowing that everything he'd been through this time was because of her. Maybe it wasn't exactly her fault...but it was still because of her. They'd wanted _her_, and Giles had gotten hurt. He'd been hurt badly, and in more ways than one.

The nightmares didn't help. These were normal nightmares—the kind that ended when she woke, safe and in her own bed or Riley's—but still, they only made things worse. Most nights she barely slept, and she knew her friends were concerned. She got the most vocal of it from Riley, who was often there to _know_ she wasn't sleeping.

This had to stop, one way or another.

Usually she was adept enough at keeping herself under control when coming out of bad dreams. She'd certainly had enough of them since being activated as the Slayer to learn that without really trying. But when she finally woke one night screaming, and couldn't calm down until Riley had held her for what she was relative sure had been a damn long time, Buffy knew the time for trying to bury it all and just move on was over and done with.

Willow had the morning shift, but Buffy was due to check in on Giles that afternoon anyway. Anxious to get there, she made it early, and Willow hadn't left yet. She found them in the one bathroom the apartment had, perched on the edge of the tub while Willow helped him replace the bandages around his chest before she left.

Buffy knocked on the doorframe. "Hey."

They both looked up.

"Hey," Willow replied brightly. She carefully pressed the last piece of adhesive into place and stood. "There. All done. Watcher sandwich, ready to go.

Giles gave her a not-quite-amused look and pulled his t-shirt back down with his good arm as he made it to his feet himself. He only wore the sling sometimes now, and his left arm was free at the moment, though he still held it at his side. "Thank you."

"No biggie. Well anyway, Buffy's already here, so I guess I'll go. Oh wait, do you want that tea first? It's probably about done."

"I can get it, Will. Thanks. You're probably headed to meet Tara anyway."

Willow grinned sheepishly. "Well, yeah. I mean, hey, weekend."

"Get out of here before I boot you out," Buffy smirked.

Her friend complied ready, giving a wave and a smile before she left. Giles smiled in return, and then she was gone. The Watcher went slowly for the couch, and Buffy reached for his arm to help.

He sidled away. "It's all right; I'm perfectly capable of walking on my own, thank you." He wasn't annoyed. He was just just letting her know. "Honestly, I don't know why the lot of you insist on keeping someone here anymore. I'm well on my way to being healed, and I'm doing just fine." He made it to the couch and sat, grimacing on the way down.

As he sat back, tired, Buffy crossed her arms and crossed to stand in front of him. "Uh huh."

"Well..."

"Look, I know you'd be okay on your own by now, but what's wrong with sticking around and making it a little easier on you when we can? Stop complaining; if we didn't love ya, we wouldn't bother."

Giles smiled at that. "When you put it that way..."

She nodded firmly. "Damn straight." Buffy went around the coffee table and took the other end of the couch. "So what was that about how you're doing? No fudging."

He sighed. Carefully. "Buffy, you've been here nearly every day; you _know_ how I'm doing. I can get around all right. Perhaps it is still a bit painful," he admitted, "but that will pass. I'm going to be fine. I _do _appreciate everything all of you have done, but all I meant was that...well, as Willow said, this is a weekend, and you're a young woman. Don't you have better thing to do than look after me?"

She shrugged and leaned forward, elbows on knees and hands clasped lightly. "Nope."

Giles gave her a disbelieving look. "Buffy..."

"Uh-uh. You don't get to 'Buffy' me after the hell we've both been through," she said, much more seriously.

He blinked at her for a moment, and then seemed to realize what she meant. His eyebrows went up slightly. "Oh." He looked away briefly. "It's uhm...It's time, isn't it?"

"We need to talk, Giles."

He nodded slowly, and shifted where he sat, to face her a little more. Buffy watched him warily, frowning at the grimace and the soft grunt of pain when he moved. It was nothing to be alarmed about, on any level, but she didn't like it, and then she remembered what else she'd wanted to ask him about. It had been in the back of her mind for a long, long time, and everything that had happened recently had only been a painful reminder that they'd never talked about it.

She was still debating inwardly whether or not to bring it up at all, and if by any chance so whether to do it before or after the talk they needed to have anyway...when she heard herself speak.

"Giles, is this what it was like for you?"

He looked at her quickly when she voiced the tentative question. "What?"

Buffy's eyes went wide. "Nothing! I mean...no. Nothing." She stared at her hands, but she felt him looking at her, and she couldn't just sit there. She took a deep breath and let it out, but it didn't stop the lump that formed in her throat. She couldn't look up, but she backtracked and answered his question.

"I mean, this isn't the first time you've been...you know...and...I meant...what with the...recovering...a-after Angelus..."

She heard him pull in a breath in surprise, and grunt when it hurt. "Oh..."

Buffy grimaced and glanced up at him. "Yeah. See? Nothing. We don't have to talk about that."

"Don't we?"

She blinked, and this time when she looked at him she didn't look away again. Giles was looking back at her steadily. He seemed uncomfortable, but not unwilling.

"It's been much longer in coming than the discussion you came here to have," he said gently.

Buffy swallowed. "I know, but..." She wanted to forget she'd ever said anything, ever brought it up, but another part of her knew he was right. She huffed. What the hell.

"It's that I don't know. I don't know how badly you were hurt, or how long it took you to heal. You, or Willow, or Xander...Giles, I _left_. I mean sure, I made sure you were all _alive_, but I didn't make sure you were _okay_. I remember that you of everybody were the one not to give me any crap about it later, and you have_ no_ idea how grateful I was for that, but...that doesn't change what I did. Willow was in the hospital and Xander had been hurt too and you were—were _tortured_, and I just...I left...."

"But you came back."

"I know," she answered shakily. "But I should have stayed in the first place. I should have been here for you after all that, and the others too; Willow...all of you went through hell too, _especially_ you and-and I just _ran_."

Giles nodded. "Yes, you did, Buffy, but you had things that you needed to work out on your own. I didn't know all of what they were until later, but still I understood that. It's true that I would have preferred if you'd stayed...let us help you...but I was never angry."

"I know," she whispered.

"Good." He paused a moment, and then spoke again. "I have a confession to make." When she looked at him curiously, he continued. "Do you remember when you returned, and I asked you for the details of the fight with Angel? For a binding spell for Acathla?"

"Yeah...That went okay, didn't it? I mean, I told you everything, so..."

"Buffy, there was never any danger of Acathla not remaining dormant. There was never any spell," he admitted quietly.

She stared at him for a long moment. "There...was no spell."

"No."

Buffy crossed her arms and sunk back into the couch. It took a while to process that. "You just wanted to know what happened, didn't you?"

"I was concerned. I knew there had to be more to what had happened, and that you wouldn't begin to heal until you'd told someone. I'm sorry."

It took a few more seconds, but finally a small smile tugged at her lips. "No...it's okay. I mean yeah, I would have been furious about that if you'd told me much sooner, but...it's okay. I get it. And I guess you were right anyway. I told you and Willow as much that day, didn't I? I _did_ need to get that out—what had happened with Angel."

Giles smiled a little in return, tentatively, and as she ran it all over in her mind again she swallowed and blinked back a bit of moisture that had creeped into her eyes.

"God, that just makes me feel so much worse about the whole not being around for you thing. You had to recover from that too, and I wasn't there to help."

He tried to brush it off, obviously still uncomfortable with that particular part of the subject. "I was hardly hurt as badly then as this time. If it makes you feel any better, Oz and Xander saw to it that I was all right; it even became annoying after a while."

"No, it doesn't help."

"Oh, well...I'm terribly sorry."

Buffy shrugged and sat forward again. "It's a guilt thing, Giles. It's been around a while, and it'll be around a while longer. There's not a lot you can do about it, and you don't have to. I don't expect you to. It's a me thing."

"As long you're certain there's nothing else I could say to—"

"No. Thanks." She took a deep breath. "It'll be okay. I just...I guess that's something else I've been needing to get off my chest. I wanted you to know I was sorry."

He smiled again and reached to squeeze her shoulder briefly. "I know, and I knew it then." He chuckled. "And I think you've more than made up for it, with the amount of hovering about here you've done since I came home."

Something whistled, and she stood in surprise. "Crap! We forgot about the tea!" She ran around the back of the couch and weaved into the small kitchen, and heard Giles back in the living room.

"It's all right; that means it's done. Nothing's gone to ruin."

"Right..." Buffy called back. She pulled the pot off the stove, and was back in the living room a few minutes later with the tray that had been waiting on the counter already filled with everything else. Willow must have done that when she'd put the tea on in the first place. Buffy set the tray on the coffee table, poured a cup and handed it to Giles.

"There. Hope it's okay, but remember I didn't make it."

Giles laughed once. "Willow generally does an adequate job." He took a sip and sat back again. "Yes, it's fine. Thank you." He glanced back at the tray. "You're more than welcome to some if you'd like it."

Buffy settled back into her spot on the couch and shrugged. "Nah. The last thing I need right now is sugar."

"You don't have to put so much in it."

She smiled appreciatively. "Giles, I'm fine for now, okay? Thanks." She crossed her arms and sighed. "And we still need to have that talk—about what happened with Sohlehk."

Giles had agreed earlier, and he didn't disagree now, but he was silent at first, drinking his tea.

"How long was it for you?" she asked finally. Giles started to set his tea aside. "When we were in there you said _months_, plural, but you never said how many. Was it just two or three, or...?"

"Seven," he said quietly. "Or eight, perhaps. By the end I wasn't exactly sober often enough to keep very good track of the passage of time."

Buffy gaped. "Oh my god..."

He winced. "It's...beginning to seem more distant. Less real."

"I know, and that's a good thing. But it's not happening fast enough."

They shared a look. "No," he agreed eventually. "It's not."

She swallowed hard. "Giles, we said we were gonna be okay. That's...that's still true, isn't it?"

He sighed. "I believe it can be."

Buffy faced him on the couch, sat against the wood arm and pulled her knees up to her chest. "Tell me what happened."

Slowly, Giles nodded again. "If you'll tell me."

She gave him a facial shrug of agreement. "Okay."

* * *

Buffy needed him. She wanted him here. That was the fact that seemed to make everything else all right, for Giles. It was the thing he rmembered most, from when she'd come to rescue him. The talking later, too...it had helped. A good deal. He hadn't been sure he _wanted_ her to know what had happened when he had been trapped in the nightmare world, and he hadn't been sure he wanted to know exactly what had happened to her, either. But in the end, getting it out had been best for both of them.

Now he knew. He'd heard much of it when she came into his nightmare to pull him out, but it was good to hear it again. He knew she hadn't asked him to take his place as Watcher again merely because she was frightened. He knew he meant something to her...to the rest of them. It wasn't that he hadn't known it before, to some extent, after being here for fours years, but...it really meant something to be told in no uncertain terms.

He also knew now that the others had all been told about his previous plan to go back to England. He knew that Buffy knew. What Buffy hadn't told him was that, the morning he'd been discovered missing, the Scoobies had been planning to show up at his flat to throw a celebration that he _wasn't_ leaving.

No, that he'd learned a couple of days ago, when they'd shown up to finally do it.

It had been another couple of weeks since then. Rupert was feeling much better, and the gang finally wasn't checking up on him as often. Not that he didn't enjoy their company, but the surprise party two nights ago had been company enough for a while, and it was good to see that they had stopped worrying about his condition so much.

He was well enough to drive, in fact, and this morning he was picking up Buffy from her house. Giles would have gone to the door, but she must have seen him coming; she was outside by the time he pulled into the driveway of the Summers home. He was trying not to think about the last time he'd been this house...It hadn't been real. Joyce didn't hate him. Everyone was safe and happy and still in Sunnydale, and things were slowly but surely settling again.

Buffy all but skipped to the car, her smile not faltering even at the horrible creaking the door made when she got in. "So," she said, and closed said car door. "Where are we off to, Mr. Watcher? All I got out of that phone call yesterday was this morning, something about Slayer stuff, and then it was just bla bla bla..."

Giles raised an eyebrow. "So wonderful to know things are getting back to normal."

She shrugged. "We talked, we know we both care, I don't want you going anywhere, and now you are officially, as far as I'm concerned, my Watcher again. There are still the bad dreams at times, and I would certainly be entitled to do more moping, but I've _tried_ the being-mopey-for-a-really-long-time thing. More than once. It wasn't fun."

"So you're choosing not to be...mopey."

"Exactly."

"Well I suppose that's one way of going about it."

"See? I can be smart."

"I never thought you weren't."

Buffy grinned warmly at him and sat back in her seat. "Okay. Where to?"

"Actually, I did, ahm...fib, a little. This isn't exactly Slayer business, but I have decided that if I am, in fact, staying, I ought to get rid of this..." he trailed, glancing around at the car itself. "It's been rather unreliable since Spike managed to crash it a few months ago, even after being fixed."

She sat up immediately. "Are you serious? You're getting a new car?"

"I'm not certain about new, but I imagine it _will_ need to be new_er_. I thought you might be interested in coming along."

"Oh my god!" Buffy gaped. "Giles is getting a new car! Where are the others? They should be here for this. I mean, if you mean that's we're going. That is where we're going, right?"

He chuckled at her enthusiasm. "Yes, well, I did call Willow and Xander, but I didn't get to mentioning it before I discovered they both have plans for today. Tara and Anya, respectively, I presume. I didn't want to bother them. Summer _is_ drawing to a close, after all."

"That much is true. Oh! Yeah. Riley and I are going to the movies tonight, so I have to be back, but this isn't gonna take all day, right?"

"Seeing as there's only one used car dealership in Sunnydale, I should say not."

"Then good." She sat back again. "Let's go. I cannot _believe_ Will and Xander didn't ask before passing this up...but hey, more joke material for me later that I don't have to share!" She glanced over at him as he pulled out of the driveway finally, and got them on their way. "Little surprised you actually called any of us, though. Things in your life not related to the books or the Slaying or whatever we don't always know about."

Giles smiled a little. "Perhaps some of that should change."

"Yeah. I mean come on; we're a family of sorts, right? And we've got you to be all patriarchal, which I've gotta admit you do pretty well, and..."

Rupert didn't hear everything, exactly, that she said, but that wasn't unusual. When she went off chattering, often he wouldn't have understood every word even if he'd tried. But that was all right. He knew she didn't expect him to catch everything, and they were comfortable that way. Or they had been. In the past. But in the weeks since everything with Sohlehk, things seemed to be going back...settling there again, where they'd been before. Yes, everything was going back to normal, but normal was better now. Normal was where it should have been before.

Giles didn't know what lay ahead for his Slayer, but he knew he would be there to help her through it, whatever it was. Buffy was here, and she was all right. _He_ was here, and he was all right.

They really would be okay.


End file.
